allow a minimum of 50% of the gas to escape. The position is established by a mixture of clues from the landscape (including an "X marks the spot" in the first zone) and trial and error. The security systems will attack Lesleigh upon sight, and he must disable or avoid them by any means possible. Only a few can be destroyed by shooting, while the rest must be dispatched by mechanical means through switches or similar. The eighteen regions are actually platforms above the true surface of Mitral; the excavation probe cannot fly or hover (although it can rise and lower itself slightly on hydraulics), and moving off a platform causes the player to fall onto the surface and become marooned. However, in one area the player can find a garage containing a hovering vehicle that can be used to explore and attack security systems, though not to place drilling rigs. Development Driller was the first game to use the Freescape engine, which allowed the production of full three-dimensional environments using filled polygons in which the player could move around freely. It also gave the player the ability to look up and down, as well as rotate left and right, something which was rare amongst 3D games of the time. The same engine was used for Driller's sequel, Dark Side, as well as Total Eclipse, The Sphinx Jinx, Castle Master and Castle Master II: The Crypt. Reception The game received positive reviews from several sources. CRASH awarded the game 97%, stating that "with a stunning use of 3D graphics, very challenging gameplay, and the fascination of exploring a FreeScape world, Driller is one of the best games CRASH has seen." The magazine's readers voted it the best overall game of 1987. Your Sinclair gave Driller 9/10 with reviewer Phil South stating "The game took a year to build, and it shows in the quality of the workmanship and the gameplay. I can tell that people are going to be sending in tips for this for months to come. Superb!" Zzap!64 awarded the game 96%. Amstrad Action reviewed the game in the January 1988 issue with an overall rating of 96% and earned the AA 'Mastergame' accolade. Is joint 3rd highest rated game in Amstrad Action'''s run. Orson Scott Card wrote in Compute! that "the lame science fiction story ... is a thinly veiled excuse for what's really a programmer's exercise