Mr Driller Drillland (Nintendo Switch)

There was a time when Mr. Driller was widely considered one of the best puzzle series around. After the first game hit arcades in late 1999, it spawned a bunch of sequels throughout the following decade, with 11 different versions launching in 10 years. And then... nothing. We haven’t had a new one since 2009. Until now, that is, with Mr. Driller: DrillLand on the Switch.

To be fair, calling this one ‘new’ isn’t entirely accurate, even though that’s certainly the case round our neck of the woods. DrillLand originally launched on the GameCube in Japan back in 2002 but never made it to the west, meaning this HD remaster marks the first time it’s been localised into English and made available for purchase outside of its native country. It’s a good job, too, because it’s one of the best games in the series.

For those not familiar with the general concept of Mr. Driller, the central aim – before taking into account the variations introduced in this version – is that you have to continually drill downwards by removing coloured blocks. The main thing making this a problem is gravity: as you remove blocks you’ll also cause others to fall, meaning you not only have to keep moving down but also be wary of falling debris dropping from above. As well as this, you also have a finite amount of air that can only be topped up by collecting capsules; these are sometimes tricky to get and require some elaborate drilling (which in turn usually creates even more of an avalanche above you).