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.

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Bloodwych
(Imageworks, 1990)
Reviewed by Javier Sáez

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.

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Blueberry
(Coktel Vision, 1987)

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.

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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.

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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.

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This game also 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.

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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 the enemy, 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.

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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 and 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, Pro BMX Simulator.

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It's more of the same here, except that you're up against three other bikers rather than two, and either one or two players can join in. The courses consist of the usual obstacles, but sadly, this game is nowhere near as good as its predecessor. Your bike is far too hard to control and more often than not, you'll be flown off the track and into the rubble. In actual fact, the game is little more than a cut-down version of Pro BMX Simulator with only one set of courses, and it's even more difficult than that game.

See also: BMX Simulator, Pro BMX Simulator.

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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.

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