Bigfoot
(Code Masters, 1988)
Bigfoot’s girlfriend has been captured and has been imprisoned in a cage in the National Park, and the only way that Bigfoot can free her is by finding the pieces of wire scattered around the park, connecting them to the cage and running a high voltage to blow the lock. The playing area is quite big and there are a lot of hazards – the most common being molten lava! In fact, more often than not, you’ll keep jumping into them and losing lives. The graphics are gorgeous, but Bigfoot seems to have a mind of his own and the game becomes annoying.
Jim Biggles, the brother of the famous World War I fighter pilot, learns of a German secret weapon that could change the course of history. He travels back to warn Biggles – and so the adventure begins. There are two parts to this game, the second part requiring a password. The first part is split into three mini-games. In the first one, you pilot your aircraft along a scrolling playfield. The other two are flip-screen affairs involving shooting, long jumps and avoiding guards. The Mode 0 graphics vary between games, but carry an overall moderate standard. An interesting tune plays upon loading with good in-game effects.
Watch YouTube videos of this game by:
ChinnyVision,
Xyphoe.
Barney is a circus performer who needs your help to complete a series of events and please the public. Each level involves circus themes which require skill and timing. There are four levels – tightrope, unicycle, balloons and trampolines. Each has its own charm and hazards – some have more of the latter than others. The graphics are average and collision detection is tight. A pleasant tune plays and old-fashioned sound effects reign supreme. It’s a blatant clone of the arcade game Circus Charlie, and done via a Commodore 64 conversion.
Billy la Banlieue
(Loriciels, 1986)
Billy is a streetwise suburban guy (“la banlieue” is French for “the suburbs”, by the way), and this is a platform game in which Billy has to explore the suburbs, meet other people on the streets, and find the right objects to give to them. The graphics are superb, especially when you consider when this game was released. However, it is let down by the controls; getting Billy to jump over gaps is often very frustrating indeed, and you’ll often need to position him precisely to climb walls and reach other platforms – and on that point, if you’re going to play it, please note that you cannot walk past stairs!
See also: Billy II.
Billy II
(Loriciels, 1987)
One of Billy’s rivals, Ricky Le Tétard, is trying to win the affections of his girlfriend Lily. Billy must impress her by beating up Ricky’s mates and completing four different arcade games successfully. You begin the game with $200, and you can use this money to play the arcade games and restore your energy by inserting your money into chewing gum dispensers (!). The arcade machines are scattered around the town, and each one plays a different game which you must master. Completing all four games provides you with a code so that you can phone your girlfriend and prove your worthiness to her. Unlike its predecessor, Billy 2 doesn’t involve much in the way of thinking. The graphics are nice enough, but the area you can explore is fairly small and a couple of the arcade games are quite frustrating to play and rely a lot more on luck than skill to complete.
See also: Billy la Banlieue.
Billy the Kid
(Mastertronic, 1990)
Are you a sharp shooter like Billy? This game has three parts to it – target practice where you shoot tin cans and bottles, an escape from a bank where you shoot all the enemies while avoiding the civilians, and a showdown at high noon which really tests your reflexes; shoot the enemy cowboy within a second or die. Each level consists of these three parts, so they all contain the same thing – not that you’ll get past the second level, because the score you have to achieve is unreasonably large. The Spectrum-like graphics don’t help either, but I suppose it’s OK if you want a quick test of your agility.
This game, when released, would have been an acceptable offering to your collection as the CPC was still relatively new. You play the part of Binky, who has to paint the floors of all 21 storeys of a hazardous building. Binky is the only one who can change this by simply moving along the floor and painting it as he goes. Very dated sound effects mix with basic-looking visuals. It’s odd to see the nasties falling to their deaths as they move randomly, although there are homing beach balls on later levels.
Bionic Commando
(Go!, 1988)
Some time ago, aliens laid waste to your planet, and now they’ve built a huge weapon to destroy all life on the planet. It’s up to you to make your way to the missile silo and deactivate the weapon before it’s too late. When you first play this game, you’ll think you’re using a Spectrum. The graphics are truly appalling – some of the worst ever seen on a CPC! In fact, the game comes in versions for colour and green screen monitors – not that there is much difference between the two. As for the sound, there’s no tune and the effects are useless. Despite this, it’s still OK to play, although the game is somewhat dull and uninspiring.
Bionic Ninja
(Zeppelin Games, 1989)
The Icarus Earth base is under attack, and six ninjabots have been sent to the base to smash the aliens. Each ninjabot – an android with ninja fighting skills – is sent out one at a time, and you control them as you move through each of the levels, destroying the aliens using shurikens, your samurai sword, or your bare metal fists. In summary, it’s a fairly average mixture of a platform game and a beat-’em-up. The graphics aren’t all that good – actually, they’re messy and garish – and there are very few sound effects. The gameplay isn’t challenging enough to make it all that interesting.
Biospheres
(Silverbird, 1988)
In a network of labyrinths, several bio-bombs have been planted, and it’s your task to blow up the bio-bomb on each level. However, you must first find the six parts of the bio-shield before attempting to shoot it – shooting the bomb without the shield is not a good idea! Of course, there are lots of nasty creatures floating about the labyrinths, and they tend to drain your life force rather quickly. You can also collect accelerators (smart bombs) and use them to help you kill lots of nasties at once. I have to say that this game is rather good – the graphics are well drawn and there’s some nice music to be heard in between levels, and it’s a lot of fun to play as well.