Best Miner is a 2d retro pixel top down arcade shooter. Controls are WASD or ARROW keys for movement, spacebar to switch weapons, and the Mouse is used to aim and fire/attack. I never thought I would like these type of games (generally) but arcade games like Ikari Warriors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQYoiZcqURg and Gan Sumoku aka Gun Smoke (which is in the capcom arcade 2nd stadium) were the first that hooked me that some in this genre can be fun.

In "Best Miner" you will encounter 3 short worlds of gameplay but only 3 different types of enemies currently to deal with. There is no save and you return to the first world if you die. After beating all three worlds if you are able, you will repeat them over again until your health is gone. You can move around slightly in the levels unlike say a single screen shooter like Robotron 2084 in the arcade.

Two weapons, a pickaxe and a distance shooting miner gun are available in the game. Here I think having the shooting gun should be delayed a level or two so you experience the pickaxe melee weapon, and additional weapon shooters, melee weapons, or a couple grenades mapped to the 2nd button when you have (again like in Ikari Warriors) would be a nice add. There are no further pickups or upgrades besides the coins that enemies drop on death unlike the prior mentioned ikari warriors and appear to not have any use for purchasing other weapons, enhancing them, or health boosting. Perhaps as upgrade of the weapon or new weapons after a level would be good to add. Joystick controls with using two sticks might be ideal.

The gameplay is pretty standard but ok for a indie effort, the end of each level you warp out which reminded me of another excellent old arcade game time pilot. That brings another idea such as time pilot with top down shooting in different time periods since the gun looks futuristic more than something a miner would have.

Clearly this is not a major title like the upcoming Mighty Doom top down shooter to keep all the time, and really doesnt have a lot of meat to it once you've tried a few times, but is fun for a bit if you get an itch for a mindless shooter type of game and dont have other options handy. Not for the kiddies. Rating: D+