The Dig

Overview

The Dig is a departure from the typical LucasArts SCUMM games in all the worst ways, boring and ruthlessly difficult.

Review

Everything I had heard about previously heard about The Dig, the eleventh game in the LucasArts SCUMM canon, pointed to it being a disappointment. It certainly was a disappointment to LucasArts in terms of return on investment, and it was a disappointment to the world at large, hyped as this big Steven Spielberg project but not exactly a blockbuster, either.

Surface team Commander Boston Low (that's you), Dr. Ludger Brink (a geologist and archaeologist) and Maggie Robbins (a reporter) are the surface team. Shortly after blowing a hole in an asteroid in order to save the Earth (well, unless they wanted Earth to have a new ocean), they go down and explore it, finding out quickly that there might be signs of alien life. Things get weird when the asteroid turns out to be a spaceship and transports them far away from NASA command.

The inventory is SCUMM based but a lot of it has been simplified, pull from inventory, click on stuff. It should say something that the interface is more like Beneath a Steel Sky than Monkey Island II. It's not just the interface, nothing about really feels like a LucasArts adventure game. No crazy puzzles, no comedy, and a LOT more dialogue.

As I entered the "Nexus" (the hub area) and realized what kind of puzzles I was up against (all with no NPCs to talk to, and no items to use) I lost all interest in completing it and just watched it on YouTube and it's clear why it wasn't well-liked. I think that the score is the best part of it, really.

Player Notes

I'm not sure when I played this. Indications are 2024 since that's when I added it to this site first. It got a "Rejected" score (the worst one).