A platform game in the early eighties that dared to be a little different.
At first glimpse you may think it's a remesque of Pac-man. Whilst Pac-man collects dots, the miner 'claims' platforms; and once he claims them all it's off to the next level. However it's not that simple as that as there are glowing mutants ready to give you a plutonium boost. However you can stop these mutants on their path to glory by collecting items that was left by previous miners and depending on the difficulty level governs the changing speed of these mutants from plutonium unfriendly to green, happy ones back to plutonium freaks (similar to devouring the power balls in Pac-man).
So you may think this is definitely a Pac-man rip-off and calling me a hypocrite. Well, hold your horses and call me Charlie. Pac-man had pretty much just one level and the only change it makes as you progress through the 'levels' its gets faster. However Miner 2049er has 10 unique levels and 255 zones! That's insane in the membrane! Also the challenge in Miner 2049er requires forward thinking. At times you miner can simply die from long drops or just get stuck in certain areas awaiting for the doomsday countdown clock to strike zero...then you'll be out of air and die. So it's like Load Runner with Pac-man (Pac runner?) using gadgets like slides, lifts, teleportation, the cannon and anything else to finish off the levels. So eat that Pac-man!
Graphically the game is pleasing to the eye; pretty colours, moving objects, glowing mutants and all the little knick-knacks that the previous miner's left are very easy to identify. On top of that considering the game was programmed purely in machine language (it was a big deal for personal computers at the time) the game runs very smoothly. And did I mention no vector graphics? (Take a look at Defender and try to identify anything at all).
Considering the release date of this game was in 1982, sounds back then was very simple indeed. On the other hand Miner 2049er had a title score, ending score, lots of miscellaneous sounds like jumping, sliding, cannon blasts, hydraulic scaffolds and whatever else. This was a landmark as most games barely struggle with a title score, or better still trying to recognise is there is a tune at all beyond that 'beeps and blips' (as a matter of interest the Atari 800 can play up to four different types of sounds simultaneously whilst the 'famous' Commodore 64 can only take three).
So who would play this game then? To those who would like to relive the past blasting away The Bronski Beat whilst getting the latest goss about Mother Russia, Miner 2049er should be added to that retro flavour. I bet that once you play this game, your next invite to a retro party you'll be dressing up as Bounty Bob jumping away and claiming your stake of the ground. You go Bob!