1983 video game
Oil's Well (a pun on "all's well") is a video game published by Sierra On-Line in 1983. The game was written for the Atari 8-bit computers by Thomas J. Mitchell. "Oil's Well" is similar to the 1982 arcade game "Anteater", re-themed to be about drilling for oil instead of a hungry insectivore. Ports were released in 1983 for the Apple II and Commodore 64, in 1984 for ColecoVision and the IBM PC (as a self-booting disk), then in 1985 for MSX and the Sharp X1. A version with improved visuals and without Mitchell's involvement was released for MS-DOS in 1990.
Gameplay.
The player collects oil for a drilling operation by moving the drill head through a maze using four directional control buttons. The drill bit is trailed by a pipeline connecting it to the base. Subterranean creatures populate the maze; the head can destroy the creatures, but the pipeline is vulnerable. As the player traverses the maze, the pipe grows longer, but pressing a button quickly retracts the head. There are 8 levels to play through.
Reception.
"ANALOG Computing" said that "Oil's Well" for the Atari 8-bit was a "truly different and challenging" variant on the "'gobble the dots' theme", with good gameplay and graphics.
Dave Stone in "Computer Gaming World" stated that "The action's well-paced, the difficulty progressive. While getting to a higher level is somewhat dependent on getting the right breaks — good eye-hand coordination, timing, and strategy are essential".
"Ahoy!" stated that while the Commodore version's graphics and sounds were only "serviceable; gameplay is, in my experience, unique ... Recommended". "InfoWorld" called the IBM PCjr version "a clever, basic game", and "InfoWorld's Essential Guide to Atari Computers" cited the Atari 8-bit version as "Sierra's trickiest".
The U.S. gaming magazine "Computer Games" awarded "Oil's Well" the 1984 Golden Floppy Award for Excellence, in the category of "Maze Game of the Year."
Legacy.
Despite already being a clone of "Anteater", several additional clones borrowed the theme of "Oil's Well": "Pipeline Run" for the Commodore 64 in 1990 and "Oilmania" for the Atari ST in 1991.
References.
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