A bit like “Miner Dig Deep” in reverse, in “Red Tie Miner” you are tasked not with building an expansive mine network but, rather, with escaping one. And it’s got a lot going for it.
Elements of the game remind me of everything from Br0derbund classic H.E.R.O. to Atari Lynx cult hit “Todd Adventure’s in Slime World. You climb, jump, swing, and pick-axe your way through enemies and obstacles on a way to the surface, among many other things. There are guilty pleasures to be had in triggering cave collapses on top of enemy miners, as one example of how you can combine the game’s mechanics in interesting ways. Another example of how the mining reference isn’t a gratuitous attempt to cash in on the popularity of Miner Dig Deep and/or Minecraft is that you can mine gems and trade them in at a shop for tools that will help you save yourself, and the mining is complicated by the enemies who’ll try and stop you from escaping. That latter element adds a bit of strategy and replay value to the game. Your ability to mine also lets you modify the levels in ways that may aid your escape, with a bit of experimentation and imagination, which is really cool.
Visuals are interesting, with lava and water effects created by applying fluid motion to large blocks that gives you a zoomed-in/pixelised effect. All in all, it’s worth 80 Microsoft Points for those who like platformers with an adventuring element.
Here’s what the developer (Maximinus) has to say about the game:
“Red Tie … check. Pickaxe … check. Let’s get out of this mine!”
Writings of Mass Deduction 
Red Tie MineR, with an R.
It’s a good game. I feel like more could have been done with it, but what is here is quite ample, certainly for the price.
Weird. And I’m always particular to cut and paste that kind of info off of Xbox.ca too. Thanks for pointing the typo out!
Miss placed cursor during copy and paste…we have all done that. lol
Never get this a try figuring since I own Miner Dig Deep and I never really got into that game much past a few minutes then I shouldn’t bother with this one.
Nice review as always and thanks again.
I’ve never got into Miner Dig Deep either. From my brief time with Red Tie Miner I enjoy it more than Miner Dig Deep, but that’s no guarantee that anyone else will.
Whatever this game is, it’s not Miner Dig Deep. It reminds me more of games like H.E.R.O., Spellunker, Todd’s Adventures in Slime World, Dig Dug, and more of that ilk. Games about exploration, light platforming, light combat, etc. In contrast, Miner Dig Deep was about creation as you developed your mine, and is almost more like a Will Wright game (SimMine, if you will).