BMX Ninja
(Alternative Software, 1989)
It’s a fight between you and the BMX gangs as you perform bunny hops, wheelies and backflips to shake off the enemy gang members on their BMXs, skateboarders and scooters. A meter at the bottom of the screen shows how far you’ve got to go to reach the next level. It goes back to zero if you’re knocked off your bike by your opponent, which is an all too frequent occurrence – the skateboarders are extremely tough to beat. The graphics are awful and there are hardly any sound effects; it’s a sorry excuse for a game.
BMX Simulator
(Code Masters, 1987)
Take to the BMX track and complete three laps of each track within the time limit to be allowed to tackle the next course. You’re also up against the computer, who is awful on the first course, but very good on the rest of them! A friend can also try to beat the clock with you. Even though I can’t complete the third course (and there are seven of them in total), I still like this game a lot. The action replay feature is a neat touch, the graphics are good, and the music on the menu is stunning.
See also: BMX Simulator 2, Professional BMX Simulator.
BMX Simulator 2
(Code Masters, 1989)
More BMX biking action is on offer here. There are two sets of tracks available – dirt biking and quarry racing – and up to four players can compete against each other. You can also choose from either normal or expert mode; the expert mode allows each player to customise their bike’s performance with a choice of tyre width and chainwheel size, but the time limits for each track are much tighter. Controlling your bike is awkward and the confined nature of most of the tracks makes this a frustrating game to play; the quarry racing tracks are truly infuriating. This is really a cut-down version of an earlier full-price release from Code Masters, Professional BMX Simulator, with the same graphics and music, so you may as well play it instead.
See also: BMX Simulator, Professional BMX Simulator.
Bob Winner
(Loriciels, 1986)
This game wasn’t released in the UK until 1988. I can’t understand why it wasn’t released earlier, because the quality of the graphics is beyond description – how people must have gasped in awe of them back then! Erm, oh yes, the game... Bob Winner is on a quest to find a lost civilisation, and has to collect three keys which are being held by three opponents that he meets on his journey – two boxers and a gun-wielding cowboy. To fight them, Bob has to find the right object. There are only about twenty screens, but they all feature stupendous digitised backgrounds. The graphics and animation are without a doubt the best I’ve ever seen on a CPC, although the game ultimately lacks depth and isn’t that big.
Bob’s Full House
(TV Games, 1988)
Ah, Bob Monkhouse! This is a computerised version of the 80s TV show which was presented by him. It’s a quiz game which also has an element of bingo in it; in each of the three rounds, you have to fill in certain squares on your bingo card, and the first player (out of four) to do this wins a prize. In the final round, the first player to fill in all the squares goes on to the end game, to win a holiday. Unfortunately, you don’t really get to win all the prizes in real life. The graphics aren’t bad and the game is simple enough to play, but the questions repeat themselves much too often.
Bobby Bearing
(The Edge, 1986)
Bobby is a spherical droid, and his five chums – Osborne, Boogle, Bungo, Bert, and Barnaby – are lost in a large maze. It’s his job to find them and return them to where he started by pushing them along. However, the maze is huge and is filled with all manner of nasty traps such as switches, crushers, and black balls which will attempt to knock you out. The maze is viewed in isometric 3D and it looks quite good, although there are very few sound effects and no music. Nevertheless, this is a lot of fun to play, and exploring the maze is almost as much fun as finding the other droids.
Bobo
(Infogrames, 1988)
Bobo’s in a prison and is trying to make his escape, but he’ll have to complete some tasks first. Bobo’s plans seem a bit awry to me – the five tasks, in order, are: serving soup to the other prisoners, peeling potatoes, helping the other prisoners to flee by using a trampoline, jumping to and fro on high-voltage wires, and keeping the guards asleep. The graphics and animation are marvellous, done like only the French can do them, and the tunes accompanying each task are nice, too. However, the tasks, though fun at first, become cumbersome after a while and you may lose interest. The game only comes into its own when you play with a friend and see who can get the highest score.
The delightful music that introduces Bobsleigh will be familiar to most people in the UK as the theme to the BBC programme Ski Sunday. Quite why Digital Integration chose it for a game about bobsleighing is another matter. Anyway, the game starts with a multitude of options: event type, track location, bobsleigh fittings, team fitness, and weather information. There’s a management element too, as you have a budget for upgrades and repairs, which comes from funding and prize money. Once you’re happy, it’s on to the track to race. You have to waggle your joystick or furiously tap keys to get going, jump in and steer. The game didn’t fill me with new-found love for the sport but it is well presented and mildly exciting. I actually preferred the bobsleigh section of Epyx’s Winter Games, but if you are a bobsleigh fan the detailed options here should appeal.
Watch a YouTube video of this game by: ChinnyVision.
More Tolkien spoofing in this text adventure game from Delta 4, the creators of Bored of the Rings. Guide the hapless Boggit, Bimbo Faggins, and the kooky wizard Grandalf, along with Thorny and his band of dwarves, to vanquish the Dragon Daug and steal back the treasure. Well, that’s supposed to be the plot, as no opportunity has been missed to poke fun at The Hobbit in this rather amusing parody. While it suffers the same drawbacks as its predecessor – the graphics are not exactly top-notch and the sound effects and music are lacking – the game more than makes up for this with its irreverent humour. Some of the puzzles are tricky, but aren’t outrageously difficult, and the gags to be found in almost every corner of the game make this a gem.
See also: Bored of the Rings.
Boinggg!
(Atlantis, 1988)
Here’s a bizarre game where you control a bloke on a spring or pogo stick of some sort, who has to reach the exit of each screen by jumping from platform to platform, avoiding the monsters that fly around the screen. You have to get the strength of the jump just right, or you’ll miss the platform and fall off the screen. The graphics are pretty crude and very flickery, and there are hardly any sound effects. There are 20 screens, but most people will be screaming in frustration by the time they reach the third screen.
Watch YouTube videos of this game by: Amstrad CPC World, GameHammer Classic Gaming.