Mobile Game Review of "Gold Miner"

Gold Miner is one of those "action puzzles" like Tetris or even... Redneck Fishin' that feeds you frenzy in small doses, and that's what a mobile game SHOULD be.

You are on top of the screen as a gold miner, and you need to cast hook into the bowels of the earth to snag the goodies... such as big gold nuggets, diamonds and other gems, and try to avoid bad things like rocks, TNT barrels, and so on. Your hook will 'rotate' back and forth. When you judge the hook will deploy, hit OK, then the hook will shoot out, and if it snags something, it'll bring it up. There are also random bags.

Between levels, you can buy some "powerups" that could make certain items worth more, retrieve items a little faster, and so on, or you can save the money. Remember, every bit of money you earn can help you further down the road. It is possible to make enough money that you just sit there and do nothing and still pass the level, but why waste the "freebie" on the easy levels?

There's a 'strategy mode' where you need to meet ever-increasing amount of dollars as you play, and some of those levels are HARD! (esp. those with TNT barrels, as they often destroy all stuff around them). There's also "endless" mode where you can just keep on playing... sort of.

Graphics are 2D sprites, but rather cute, and decently animated. Sound... is forgettable.

All in all, Gold Miner is one of those quickie games where you play a few levels between assignments. It's not very deep, and it's not THAT challenging, but it's not a bad game either.

Overall rating: 6.5 out of 10
Pros: easy to learn, not too hard
Cons: no "aim point", some levels WAY too hard