-Estimated achievement difficulty: 6/10
-Offline: 20 (200)
-Online: 0 (0)
-Approximate amount of time to 200: 10+ hours
-Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
-Number of missable achievements: 0
-Do cheat codes disable achievements? N/A
-Does difficulty affect achievements? N/A
-Glitchy achievements: None
-Unobtainable achievements: None
-Extra equipment needed: None
Introduction
Welcome to I Dig It! This is a mobile phone based platformer/puzzle with emphasis on strategic thinking to ensure your "digger" is properly managed to complete the campaign. The game initially released in January with glitched achievements, but Microsoft has since released a patch in September that has made all 20 achievements obtainable.
Abbreviated Walkthrough
Each campaign level can be chosen right from the start. Every level has the game play flow of upgrading your digger, completing missions, then collectible cleanup if required. There are two ways of tackling this achievement list; either attempt to find all collectibles during the campaign run, with the chance that you may miss one or two, or simply run through the level on quick play first and find all collectibles beforehand so your focus can be on completing the campaign. Either way, expect to spend at least two hours on each map.
The suggested upgrade emphasis on all campaign levels should always be gas first, radar, drill, and then cargo. Pressure and hull upgrades can be neglected until the very end if you can maintain positive control of your movements throughout the game. This also frees up money for the teleport consumable, which allows you to move instantly from your dig site to home base and back. The player will find that there is a threshold in every level where money is no longer an issue after upgrades because of the available resources being dug up for money.
All numerical achievements, which include collectibles and stage specific tasks such as the Venting achievement, where you must plug 10 vents in game, are cumulative and are tracked in both quick play and campaign modes. All progress MUST be saved at home base however, which must be kept in mind if you must grind the achievements out for any reason. Cleanup should not be necessary through regular game play.
The Combo King achievement
This is the only achievement that requires any type of in game setup before it can be completed. This achievement is for earning a x20 multiplier bonus, which come from consecutive digs into collectibles in the game. Setup is as simple as digging up to items until it will only take one more movement to collect the item, and setting up a path to ensure that the next 20 digs you make will all collect items. The items do not even have to be close or next to each other; as long as the 20 items are collected with no interruption then the achievement will unlock as intended.
The Meet the Team achievement
This is the secret achievement of the game. There are nine collectibles required to meet requirements to unlock the achievement. These collectibles are seen as white, 8-bit renditions of the developers and are found in sets of three on the Amazon, Antarctic, and Oceanic levels. As with the rest of the collectibles, each unique collectible must be gathered once in order to receive credit for the achievement. Ensure to save progress before leaving the game for any reason.
One final warning on collectibles
There is one thing to be mindful of while making progress towards all collectible achievements. If at any time your cargo is full, any digs collected while your cargo is full is discarded until the cargo is emptied at home base. This also means that YOU WILL NOT GET CREDIT for any new collectibles picked up after you have been warned that your cargo needs to be emptied. Always carry two teleport consumables once the item is available and you have the disposable cash to do so; one to teleport back to base, and one to teleport to the checkmark you left on your map before leaving base.
Conclusion
For the price of admission, I Dig It will keep you well entertained for a lengthy 10-15 hours if you are going for the full 200 point completion. The game is designed to have you parked on your phone for 2-3 hours for every campaign level so be sure to have the phone plugged into external power before attempting to play this game.