Blood Brothers
(Gremlin Graphics, 1988)
Hark and Kren are the Blood Brothers, and on returning home from an expedition, they find that the Scorpions have destroyed their village and its inhabitants, and now they want revenge. The brothers have to find their way around the Scorpions’ mines, shooting aliens and collecting gems. There is another aspect of the game, though; when you want to fly from one mine to another, you enter a 3D section where you must manoeuvre your spaceship through walls and shoot blocks. Unfortunately, both parts are very difficult indeed; the spaceship’s controls are very sensitive, and the two brothers don’t have very much energy to enable them to survive for long. It’s also a game that is best played with a friend, as controlling both players simultaneously is awkward.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by: XeNoMoRPH.
Blood Valley
(Gremlin Graphics, 1988)
Based on the Duelmaster series of adventure gamebooks, this one- or two-player game takes place in the Valley of Gad, where each year, an event called The Hunt is held. The Valley’s ruler, Archveult, along with his allies, hunt down a freed slave in a pursuit lasting five days. In the one-player option, you play the slave, and your aim is to find the exit. In the two-player option, the second player takes control of the Archveult and his henchmen. This is a poor game that is badly implemented. There is no explanation as to what the various objects you can pick up actually are, and worst of all, you can barely move a few steps without being forced to fight yet another monster, which makes the game very tedious indeed.
Someone has to find the Crystals of Sanguis to destroy the demon that dwells in the castle of Bloodwych. Any volunteers? In this role-playing game, your first task is to recruit four heroes among wizards, warriors, thieves and adventurers. Each of them has different abilities, attributes, equipment and knowledge of magic. You move your party through three-dimensional dungeons where fighting is not always the best choice, as it is possible to trade and offer things to characters controlled by the computer. It’s precisely when fighting comes that the game isn’t that good, as combat is a bit confusing and it’s difficult to know what’s really happening. On the other hand, this game has a two-player mode with a split-screen view, which is a rare feature in role-playing games.
In this board game, the aim is to be the person with the highest score at the end of each round. Each player takes it in turn to choose a number from the grid and when a tile is removed, part of the background picture is revealed. The round finishes when there are no more numbers that can be taken and the person with the highest score wins. After a beautifully drawn loading screen, atmospheric music plays on the menu. Starting the game, the tune changes again with another ambient tune. The gameplay is amusing, pleasant and fast-paced, since there is strong competition from either the computer or a human player. The grab factor is very high; it is a game that one would play repeatedly. Taken as a whole, this is a really great job with awesome graphics and sound, partnered with nice gameplay.
Blue Star is a shoot-’em-up where your mission is to destroy the alien bases that have appeared within your territory of space. The game starts with your very small ship facing a large base that consists of large tiles with tiny alien ships trying to defend it. After destroying that base you then have to dodge asteroids for around two minutes with no fire button! You then repeat everything again with a different layout of tiles. Visually everything moves and looks crude, with a few blips and bangs for sound.
Blue War is a colourful submarine game with the objective of rising through the ranks by destroying the enemy fleet. It’s not as good as Silent Service, for example, but it still captures the atmosphere of picking off the enemy quite well. The game is played using icons that can be a little unresponsive at times. Everything has a chunky and quite simplistic look, from the radio room to the sonar and the view through your periscope. The sound effects do their job nicely enough. There isn’t much depth in this one, if you will excuse the pun, but it’s worth playing if you like submarines.
Blueberry
(Coktel Vision, 1987)
- Knowledge of French is required in order to play this game properly.
Blueberry is a comic strip which is very well known in France, and dozens of books have been released. This game follows the ageing Blueberry (also known as Mike), and his companion Jimmy MacClure, as they travel across the deserts of Arizona in pursuit of a gold mine. However, they know that the area surrounding the mine is cursed, and a spectre guards the mine. Many pitfalls await them, not least the native Indians and other ambushers... The game plays like a comic strip, while allowing you to make your own choices as to what you want to do next. There is also some arcade action where you must shoot enemies while avoiding being shot yourself – it’s nice at first, but quickly becomes a real chore. The graphics are excellent, as one would expect from Coktel Vision, but the arcade sequences let the game down slightly.
The Blues Brothers
(Titus, 1992)
Jake and Elwood are playing a concert tonight, but the town sheriff remembers their previous concert, and has stolen their equipment. Now the Blues Brothers must find their way through five levels of platform action, collecting one item at the end of each level. You’ll find crates which can be used to get rid of any enemies you encounter, and you can collect records as well; if you collect 100 of them, you’ll get an extra life, but collecting a broken record means you’ll lose 50 records. This is a really enjoyable game; the graphics are brilliant, even if the screen is rather small and everything is, well, blue. And of course, there’s plenty of groovy music from the film of the same name to listen to.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by: Xyphoe.
BMX Freestyle
(Code Masters, 1989)
See how good you are at BMX stunts with this test of your skills. Among the six events are wheelie trials, ramp jumps, half and quarter pipes, a “slow race”, and finally, a tricks track where four judges rate your stunts. You’ve only got one shot at each event, and if you don’t qualify, you’ll have to start again. Most of the events can be mastered if you persevere at the game, and as a hint – you’ll need to get a good build-up of speed to succeed at the wheelie trials. Apart from that, the graphics are standard and there’s a really cool tune which suits the whole BMX thing rather well.
BMX Kidz
(Silverbird, 1989)
This game tests how good you are at performing tricks on your BMX. You’re up against three other riders and have to complete each course before your time runs out. After the second course, you’ll also have to perform a set amount of stunts to qualify for the next course. You’ll need to collect spokes and cans of Coke along the way if you’re to make it to the finish. The graphics are colourful and neat, and while there’s no music, the sound effects do the job. However, the game seems to be too difficult – completing the first course is tricky enough, and the second one is almost impossible.