Travel the wilderness in search of ore

Cutesy platform games such as Wonder Boy and Super Mario Bros. took up much of my childhood, so the chance to relive these kind of adventures on my PC was too hard to resist.

Ore Explorer sees you assume the role of Jack, a young explorer drafted in to collect a rare kind of ore in order to save his country. In his quest Jack must navigate a series of weird and wonderful worlds, including forest, desert, iceberg, volcano, and even outer space. To make matters worse, there are all manner of monsters and obstacles in his way.

Ore Explorer begins with 10 training levels to help you get used to the controls and learn how to jump, push blocks, set off bombs and kick your enemies to death. The stylus-based control system takes a bit of time to perfect, so these tutorials are most welcome.

The game itself is an enjoyable platform romp, and Ore Explorer borrows much from the genre made popular on the consoles of the early 90s. The graphics are cute and colorful and the music is sweet and catchy.

The only slight problem with Ore Explorer is that there is just one difficulty setting, which can be pretty tough, especially if you’re inexperienced with this kind of game.

Nevertheless, Ore Explorer is immensely fun and offers a challenge that will keep you coming back for more.