Run Baby Run & The Wild Bunch

This future cop car is flat, baby, flat

RUN BABY RUN

(Microgold, 1983 then re-released by Firebird, 1984)

A couple of early Firebird titles here, both of which I bought with my not at all hard-earned pocket money back in '84. £1.99 was a big deal when you were only 11, so you wanted a bit of entertainment at the very least for your half pennies. But you were by no means guaranteed it, as for every decent budget title there must have been a few duffers. Doing your research was key, scanning the mags diligently. But these two games didn't get many reviews, so were a bit of a punt.

Duke Nukem waits patiently in the yellow car with his RPG while his white minions do his bidding

First Run Baby Run, which Tony Rainbird of Race Ace 'fame' wrote and released under his own Microgold banner in 1983, then sold to Tony Firebird, his brother a year later. Race Ace of course ended up on Don't Buy This! and deservedly so. I reviewed it in Part 1 many moons ago and the pain still lingers.

In this game you're on the run from the rozzers. No idea why, you might be a granny murderer for all we know, but it seems you did something really rather naughty judging by the Blues Brothers-esque number of cop cars that end up chasing you. Well 7 anyway, which is enough, believe me.

Those magenta cones are car wrecks. A brewery should be treated with more respect

Your escape route is a long one which takes in some of the UK's most exotic locations. Bolton Gasworks, Oxford Brewery, Huddersfield Foundry - they're all here. In short, the cop cars trace your exact route (they had great training), gullible fools that they are, so you have to weave your way through the streets in such a way that they cross paths and take each other out. Easier said than done, and the last guy, the yella fella, has a rocket launcher to aim at you once you've dispatched his six colleagues. Pretty extreme.

Things get hairy when you forget what route you've taken and get in amongst the cops

This could be rubbish (cough, Race Ace, splutter) but you know what, it's good simple fun. The cars zip along at quite a pace and slowly get faster, meaning you really have to keep a keen eye on where you're going and where they're all going all at once. It all gets pretty frenzied and kinda exciting. Well done Tony, we knew you had it in you!

A classic from the 'simple yet effective' school of art

THE WILD BUNCH

(Firebird, 1984)

A change of pace now and it's Wild West time again in The Wild Bunch. By Kevin Smith, not the Clerks guy, who also did K-Tel's It's Only Rock 'N' Roll. Well never mind. In this one you're a cowboy, on a steel horse you ride, and you're wanted dead or alive. Mama, you just killed a man, put a gun against his head, pulled the trigger, now he's dead. Only you didn't do it, but everyone thinks you did. Quite the bind.

"The hell ya will". That was John Wayne

So you're on the run from the law again, with a Pinkerton agent after you, roaming from town to town, trying to track down the rootin' tootin' good ol' boy who actually did the darn deed. You can buy supplies from stores, play poker in the saloon, check the telegrams, have a shoot-out in the street, the full Westworld experience.

Why, these places ALL sound just delightful!

It's a bitza game, this. A bit of adventuring, as when you walk from town to town you must choose to fight, bribe or run from assailants. A bit of strategy as you plan the best route to hunt down the murderer while avoiding the fuzz. A bit of card playing, with quite an enjoyable poker game. And a bit of arcade action if you end up in a shoot-out.

The locals see so many of these nowadays, they don't even leave their houses to watch anymore

And each of these bits are not half bad in themselves, but together they make for quite a unique experience overall, and very good value for a budget game. Visuals are good and varied, sound is well used, and no two games tend to be the same. What more could you ask for a mere 398 half pennies?

THE VERDICT

RUN BABY RUN 72%

THE WILD BUNCH 75%