| Mines of Minos | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | CommaVid |
| Publisher(s) | CommaVid |
| Programmer(s) | Irwin Gaines [1] |
| Platform(s) | Atari 2600 |
| Release | October 1982 |
| Genre(s) | Maze |
| Mode(s) | Single player, two-player simultaneous |
Mines of Minos is an Atari 2600 maze video game developed and published by CommaVid in 1982. The player controls a mining robot in a maze, fighting off alien attackers. [2] A two-player mode, in which the second player can control an alien, is also available.
The gameplay of Mines of Minos consists of controlling a mining robot trapped in a maze surrounded by hostile aliens. [3] The player's goal is to locate and destroy the alien's command center. The player must navigate the maze and avoid the aliens; colliding with an alien causes the player to lose a life. [4] Unlike a typical video game (where the player starts with multiple lives), the player starts with zero additional lives and can only earn more by collecting robot pieces scattered throughout the maze; collecting enough pieces to form a new "robot body" awards the player with an additional life. [5] The player can drop bombs in locations, requiring strategy to choose the best spot that an alien might walk into. Gaming website The Retorist called this a "change [from] the nature of the standard offense-oriented Atari game". As an additional element of difficulty, the maze gradually fills with water, forcing the player to move on to the next board. [6]
The game may be played in single-player mode, or in a two-player mode where the second player can control an alien. [7]
CommaVid released Mines of Minos in October 1982. The game was only released for the Atari 2600. [8]
The gameplay was well received. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram called Mines of Minos "an extremely intense game: constant pressure, no rest". [9] They liked the number of mazes it offered to explore, but criticized as being a Pac-Man clone. In a 1983 review, Electronic Fun with Computers & Games wrote that the game's aliens "are stunningly scary due to their excellent resolution". [10]
In a retrospective review, the Video Game Critic praised the game's depth and challenge. [4] The Retroist wrote that Mines of Minos joined the slew of games "being cranked out immediately before the video game crash of 1983". [6]
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