Platform: Atari Lynx

Developer: Color Dreams

Publisher: Atari

Release Date: 1992

Genre: Puzzle

Nerd Rating: 7 out of 10

Crystal Mines II follows in the success of the NES classic puzzle game, Crystal Mines.  Released in 1992 at the height of puzzle-game madness, Crystal Mines II would compete against such franchises as Dr. Mario, Tetris, Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine, Columns, Bust-a-Move and more.  The game is pretty thorough and long and much like Chip’s Challenge, which was

also released for the Atari Lynx, there is an abundance of levels to dig your teeth into.  There are 150 main levels and a number of bonus levels.  Crystal Mines II is an odd piece of puzzle madness and can take some warming up to, but once you’re nice and toasty, you’ll find yourself fully engulfed in a rather deep and intriguing game.

Crystal Mines II takes you deep underground with a cool little robot to gather up crystal, copper, and other minerals to meet his quota and gather great wealth.  You control the robot to shoot out rock and stone, kill enemies, collect minerals, and stay alive.  The blocks of dirt contain minerals, enemies, and they also keep the large blocks from falling down, which will certainly destroy you.  The first couple levels were unbelievably easy, and I wondered if the game would ever get challenging. I mean, they gave me almost 14 minutes to beat a level that literally took me less than 40 seconds to get through.  Why?!

But that’s the good thing about this game.  It gets you started at an easy, low level and helps you learn the controls and get acquainted with the gameplay.  There also appears to be an unlimited number of lives, which makes the game VERY forgiving when mistakes are made.  It took me some getting used to, as I really had no idea what I was supposed to be doing.  I was unaware of baddies hiding behind stones, blocks that explode into a 3×3 grid, rocks that fall down on you and kill you if you shoot the dirt out from underneath them, and other obstacles, hazards, and more.

If you love a good puzzle, and you happen to own an Atari Lynx, then Crystal Mines II is worth every dollar.  You’ll love the codes that allow you to put the system down and start again at any time.  You’ll love the decent colors and simple game mechanics.  You’ll love the fact that you can pick this game up and conquer about 10 levels a day for 2+ weeks!  There’s so much to discover and the levels get more and more intricate in design and the difficulty begins to increase rapidly.  This game sort of reminds me of LOLO for the NES just a little bit and is every bit as fun.

Go get you a copy of Crystal Mines II for the Atari Lynx and enjoy some puzzling mayhem as you work to guide your robot through the dangerous underground world to collect minerals and get rich!  I enjoy this game and think you will too.

Nerd Rating: 7 out of 10

Submitted by NerdBerry