Son Of A Bomb vs. The Boomtown Cats
BONNIE AND CLYDE
(Zosya Entertainment, 2020)
Sometimes it’s fun to do a review featuring both a new game and an old one. No really, it is. Relatively speaking anyway. It’s probably not fair to ask the question “Which is better?” so I won’t do that (like Meatloaf). However, since I’m going to give them both a mark at the end, I guess I am effectively doing that. Anyway, it’s alright, I don’t think anyone is going to mind too much, I’m low-level at best.
I do try to avoid going over too well-trodden ground, so I’ve resisted the urge to go on about the original Bomb Jack, instead preferring to see if its relatively unloved sequel deserves better treatment in the enlightened year of our Sir Clive, 2024. But first a little look-see at a modern day Bomb Jack-a-like, if you a-like, Bonnie And Clyde.
We’re all aware that in the olden days there was no shortage of Speccy pirates (ahem, cough etc.), and even the odd few dandy highwaymen, but what about Spectrum gangsters? Well there were a few if I remember correctly. We had two games starring that Mugsy guy, featuring extraordinary graphics, if unextraordinary gameplay. And They Stole A Million was a bit of a cult hit, while The Untouchables even had their own outing quite late on in classic Spectral times.
It’s a little-known fact, and one kept out of the history books, that 1930s bank robbers and general miscreants Bonnie and Clyde were in fact cats. I can well imagine cats doing that sort of thing, since their self-centredness and disregard for humanity would lend itself well to such activity. It’s a good job we love the cute little b******s isn’t it? And this game is a true-life graphical representation of what they got up to, lovingly recreating their 90 greatest heists in 13 different localities. So it’s a historical document really.
You play as Clyde cat and you must greedily collect all the coins in each area, while avoiding the many gangster cats around who like nothing better than to spray all around the area. Bullets, that is! Don’t worry, the vet said they’ve all been ‘done’. Once Fluffykins has collected all the coins, a big safe appears as if by magic. This is where Bonnie cat leaps into action as she’s stashed some dynamite in her flea collar and throws it down to Clyde, who must catch it and blow the safe to smithereens. Then climb up a ladder to escape to the rooftops, like cats on hot tin rooves. Contemporary references, I got ‘em.
Bonnie is useful in more ways too, as she periodically lobs down whatever stuff she can find to aid Clyde’s efforts. Like extra bullets, a star which freezes enemies and a temporary invulnerability cloak. Hope my cats aren’t reading this, or they might ask for one of those for Xmas, the scamps. In this day and age, it’s possibly a bit of a shame that you can’t pick which gangster cat you’d like to play, so their roles might be reversed. After all, it was possible back in 1983 in Antescher. Oh, and you get nine lives, which is perfectly in tune with feline anthropological biology, so that checks out nicely.
Once you’re past the excellent loading screen, your game menu pops up with a rather confusing message at the bottom, “© 1986 Zosya Entertainment”. But this isn’t one of those games which was made in the ancient times, but not released for whatever reason. No, it’s simply those cheeky Russian folk having a bit of a joke, albeit a slightly odd one. Bomb Jack came out for the Speccy in ’86, so I can only assume that’s why that year was chosen, as there’s a passing resemblance to that game. But your kitty can’t fly in this game, so there’s a major difference there I suppose. But could Bomb Jack fire bullets? No siree, but good old Clyde can.
There’s some good music on the menu screen, but it’s that quiet Tim Follin type, you know the sort. It’s clever, but it’s a shame it tends to be rather low volumed in comparison to the effects in the game itself. However some period-appropriate Scott Joplin tunes play away quite happily during the game itself, so that’s all good, including “The Entertainer” which is nice to hear outside of the snooker for a change.
This game is very simple to play, a la B.J.’s first outing, and everything zips around very swiftly and smoothly. It’s not hard to complete a few screens, so you can tell it’s not a classic era game, and being given nine lives, you’ll probably get quite far into it on a regular basis. I got as far as level 17, but out of 90 that’s just a drop in the ocean. The difficulty level increases gradually, no nasty spikes that I noticed, although on screen 11 you are suddenly confronted with a monstrous climb that you can’t possibly manage with one jump. This is where a further feline ability comes in essential – you can climb up super-high by bouncing off alternate walls, which took me a while to master, and even when I’d managed it, I wasn’t quite sure how, but it’s a bit like how Mario does it if that’s any help.
So to wrap up Bonnie And Clyde, it’s a cracking game, as you’d expect from the marvels at Zosya, whose only potential mis-step I can recall was the too-hard biker game Just A Gal, otherwise their output has been outstanding. It’s colourful, looks and sounds fantastic, and is a total joy to play. And dare I say it, I prefer it to Bomb Jack, as there’s a bit more variety on show, and who doesn’t like shooting evil cats? (I didn’t really say that, please don’t shoot any cats.)
BOMB JACK II
(Elite, 1987)
So out with the new and in with the old. Bomb Jack II came out less than a year after the original, with Elite not slow to try to capitalise on that game’s popularity. Interestingly they put the original Bomb Jack on the B-side to its sequel, which is a bit of a marketing stroke of genius really, as anyone who missed the first one could get that rarest thing in the world of non-budget Spectrum gaming – good value for money. Surely the best B-side in Spectrum history? Well it certainly beats Palace’s Cauldron B-side, The Evil Dead.
Everybody loved ol’ Bomb Jack, I’ve never heard anything said against it, apart from me a couple of paragraphs ago. Its genius was its simplicity, and it suited the Speccy down to the ground, making for an effortlessly top notch arcade convo. Then came number two, and… oh the disappointment…
The only mag to like it was the ever-erratic Sinclair User, who gave it 5 stars, saying it was “at the top of the platform games league, outstripping Legend Of Kage with great ease (alright) and Cobra with style (now hold on)”. If you take them out of the equation, Y.S. reckoned 6/10 - “not a complete disaster” and Crash offered 71% - “a poor follow-up which loses its predecessor’s sparkle”. Harsh words indeed.
This time round Mr. B.J. (to his close friends) has found himself stuck in a lava pit crammed with reptilian creatures, must have been quite a party the night before. He has to stab his way out, which doesn’t sound terribly heroic, more just thuggish, and get back to his home world of… maybe Bombonia, sounds plausible. He’s got a knife (“That’s not a knife”) and can usually manage to shiv a creature or two before they get pi$$ed and beat the crap out of him.
He can’t really fly this time, despite wearing a cape. All he can manage is to jump to any platform which is on the same level horizontally or vertically, so if they’re even a little bit off-kilter, he can’t do it. Some superhero! He has to collect all the various bits of treasure, as he’s a keen capitalist, then he can move on. If he takes too long, the relatively docile dino creatures turn into hard-as-nails rhino types, who can’t be stabbed with such ease. Wait even longer and they turn into copycat Bomb Jacks weirdly, which leaves our hero feeling like he has lost his sense of self, and he starts on a downward spiral of depression. Sad.
There are 40 screens to fight through, and it’s quite hard going compared to the first game. More of a puzzly affair – it’s important to plan your way around the screen to ensure success, as you can only get to certain platforms a particular way. Battling the monsters seems a bit hit-and-miss, you’re best to sneak up behind them and stab them in the back a few times (charming), otherwise they hit you back and deplete your health bar pretty rapidly. At least they don’t kill you immediately they touch you, but you often have your heart in your mouth, as you’re a bit wimpy on the whole.
The graphics came in for some criticism at the time, but I reckon they’re not bad. Small but pretty well designed, and the backgrounds are as colourful as the original. The reptiles have even made themselves a Stonehenge replica in their lava pit, which is impressive. I’m starting to think it’s not really a lava pit at all to be honest, the evidence is not compelling.
Viewing this as a game in its own right, I think it’s alright. Not revolutionary, but solid enough. It wasn’t in the arcades, and is a quite different experience to the first game. There was another spin-off in the franchise, Mighty Bomb Jack, which was in the arcades, but never made it to the Spectrum. Could be a project for one of the current breed of Spectrum heroes to get their teeth into maybe. "Your country needs you!"
BOOM OR BUST?
BONNIE AND CLYDE
92%
MONSTER HIT!
BOMB JACK II
74%
