When I was a kid, one of the few arcade games that could pull me away from Pac-Man was Dig Dug!  (other ones included BurgerTime, Pengo, and Q*bert)  So when was asked if I wanted to review a game that combined aspects of Dig Dug and Bomberman, I was like, “HECK YEAH!”  In Murtop, you play as a rabbit who can burrow underground to collect carrots while avoiding angry moles.  You can fight back by laying bombs that explode in all directions, similar to Bomberman.  Just don’t get hit by the explosions yourself!  Murtop is available on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

Similar to Dig Dug, you can burrow underground, making your own maze as you go.  You can collect carrots underground for points, and you get a lot for that, too.  To beat a stage, you must defeat all the moles.  Each type has a different way of attacking and chasing you, and some even cause earthquakes that send rocks your way.  You can drop rocks on them similar to Dig Dug, but your main attack is laying bombs.  When you do this, get out of the way fast because they’ll explode in all four directions, and only end where you haven’t burrowed yet.  There’s even a bonus stage every so often where you try and catch falling carrots and avoid rocks.  Lose all your lives and it’s Game Over, but you can continue at the last stage where you left off.  The game saves your high scores, too.

The game really tries make it feel like an authentic classic 80s arcade game.  There’s even a demo ‘attract’ screen.  You can even make the screen flip to ‘tate’ mode in the options menu so it looks like an arcade screen.  You can also change the colors to make it look like a Game Boy, Virtual Boy, and even those four-color pink and blue computer monitors!  My only problem is that since you poop out bombs behind you, it can be hard to get the timing right.  Plus they detonate a bit too fast for my liking.  Also you can’t ‘hold’ rocks before dropping them like you can in Dig Dug, so that strategy won’t work here.  But if you like the gameplay of classic 80s arcade titles, you’ll love this one!

Kid Factor:

Murtop is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.  When you blow up moles, they just fly off the screen.  And when you lose all your lives and don’t continue, your rabbit just turns into an angel and flies away.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, but not necessary just to play.  I grew up playing all kinds of games like this, and I think I turned out OK.

Tags: Game Reviews