Producer: Imagine
Memory Required: 48K
Retail Price: £5.50
Language: Machine code
Author: Eric the Bear (?)

Whether the 'B.C.' before Bill's name means Before Computers or Before Crash is not stated on the inlay, but the game is certainly post-Imagine and is now marketed by Beau Jolly, the London company that secured the rights to market Imagine's games.

B.C. Bill will probably cause some furore or other as it is a game of sexism, sex and violence. The basic object is to club women into a state of insensibility so that Bill can drag them off to his cave to be wives. Once in the cave they start producing children, signified by the periodic arrival of a red stork, baby in beak. The screen shows the cave, two belching volcanoes and a large collecting area where the women wander around waiting to be clubbed. The more women ,and children there are in the cave, the more food Bill must give them. Fortunately the food also wanders around waiting to be clubbed and dragged off. One problem is the predatory dinosaurs that eat anything they touch, including Bill.

The game is played across seventeen years and the amount of food available depends on the seasons which can be seen changing as you play. A shortage of food may result in some wives dying, in which case the kids will leave home then Bill finally dies of a broken heart.

B.C. Bill comes with a lavish inlay card which also contains a long and absurd account of the life of Eric the Bear, supposed writer of the game but which one may assume is entirely apocryphal. The game idea apparently comes from Mark Butler himself and so he must take any blame which attaches for its chauvinistic attitudes!

Incidentally, although it doesn't say so on the inlay, B.C. Bill will load and play with the Currah micro-speech unit plugged in, so you can enjoy the very good music by Abdul Ibrahim as well as the rest of the effects.

COMMENTS

Control keys: alternate bottom row keys for left/right, third row/second row for up/down, top row to club
Joystick: AGF, Protek, Kempston, Fuller, Sinclair
Keyboard play: reasonable responsiveness, but slightly awkward positions
Use of colour: quite good, the type of game precludes too much
Graphics: very good on Bill, less so on others, overall reasonable
Sound: excellent tune, may be amplified via Currah micro-speech
Skill levels: progressive difficulty
Lives: 5

After being subjected to Imagine's last two programs I loaded this one with some misgivings - please don't let it be another Cosmic Cruiser. My prayers were answered and I was rather pleasantly surprised. B.C. Bill is the best thing out of Imagine for a long time (even the last time?) The game is original, has very good quality graphics and it IS PLAYABLE! A thing recent Imagine games have not been.

B.C. Bill is full of very good graphics and excellent sound. Clubbing wives and feeding kids can be quite difficult as the game is played over many seasons with less food about in the winter than in the summer. The edible dinosaurs must be clubbed from behind, while the dangerous ones can be killed for points. I think this one's a bit chauvinistic (if it had a girl/boy option like Ant Attack, perhaps it might sell better). The detail of Bill is especially good when he uses his club or gets eaten. Very addictive and fun to play. I'll be coming back to this one for more.

B.C. Bill is a rather strange game which has its points. The animation of Bill is very good, when he jumps up into the air to smash his dub down, but the other graphic characters are pretty flat and uninteresting. Also, while it may be realistic to raise kids and keep them for seventeen or eighteen years, it's very strenuous in a game! Another touch of fairyland joy is the stock bringing in the babies (well - didn't they)? The graphics of the women leave no doubt as to their gender - enormous black blobs sit heavily on their chests so that they resemble pre-historic versions of Dolly Parton's big sister. There is a good tune and some nice effects, although on occasion it does slow down play. Overall a novel idea that lacks something in playability. However, it may have been the game to save Imagine - too late now - too bad.

Roger: The fallen empire of Imagine Software bears guilt for BC Bill's creation; Imagine may be 'the name of the game', like it says on the packet, but whoever wrote this didn't exactly apply a vast amount of imagination to this sample of Stone Age programming. Maybe everyone was too busy winding up the company to notice what the programmers were doing...

The game is essentially lightweight stuff involving a primitive character who looks and behaves like your average Liverpool or Everton supporter - probably Imagine's way of introducing a little local colour. Bill, under player control, has to scuttle about a primeval landscape, clubbing wives and collecting food, before dragging the goodies back to his cave. An ever-increasing number of children, resulting from the collected and nourished wives, complicate matters as do the carnivorous (news to me!) dinosaurs dropping in for lunch.

Well, it's obvious it's going to be a success - everyone loves a good old dinosaur... you only have to see how many people settle down to watch that load of old tott One Million Years BC each time the BBC repeat it. For me though, there wasn't enough going on - I spent the first few games just trying to find another screen (having got bored with the first fairly quickly); needless to say there isn't one - equally needless to say, it needs one. 3/5 HIT

David: Sexism to the fore in this strange little Stone Age scenario. It'll be a sure-fire hit - nice graphics and excellent sound help - but the initial attraction soon wanes. 4/5 HIT

Ron: What a load of sexist nonsense - great graphics, but the storyline stinks. Personally, I wouldn't give it house-room. 3/5 HIT

MACHINE: Spectrum 48K
CONTROL: Keys, Protek, Kemp, Sinc, Full
FROM: Beau Jolly, £5.50

Tired of shoot-'em-ups? Then try this original offering from Beau-Jolly - the first club-'em-down!

You control B.C. Bill, an endearing little caveman, all hair and nose, in his attempts to start a dynasty.

Firstly he needs some wives. These are acquired by romantically knocking to the ground any innocent female unfortunate enough to wander on-screen. Back at the cave they start producing children at an alarming rate, and as the seasons quickly pass Bill desperately struggles to feed them.

All manner of strange creatures inhabit the area (one looks disconcertingly like a hamburger on legs!) and can be clubbed for food. However you are in competition with marauding dinosaurs, who are also partial to a little caveman!

In all this mayhem you must keep your family from starving for as long as possible, receiving bonus points for any child reaching maturity.

The background screen is nicely drawn with the cave in a corner and smouldering volcanoes in the distance.

All the characters move smoothly and are very well animated - Bill's clubbing motion is incredibly realistic. Sound too is impressive, far removed from the Spectrum's normal plaintive beepings, with some excellent tunes being played.

Control is no problem either. A wide choice of joysticks or sensibly placed control keys is offered.

However, I do have one major reservation in recommending this game. There is only one screen with a limited variety of action and its long lasting appeal is doubtful.

Still, B.C. Bill is a nicely presented, programmed, and packaged game worth looking at.

I like the title screen, but the rest of the graphics weren't too appealing. Trying to get the perspective is hard. It's also difficult to control the caveman. But it's a nice, original concept and could have been a very good game.

TONY TAKOUSHI

I really liked the intro music - very impressive for a Spectrum. But control of Bill is extremely tricky. I also have serious doubts about the lasting interest. There's quite a lot to do, but it all happens on a single screen.

As for the morals of the game, they're disgraceful. You go round clubbing women over the head, and the drag them off to your cave, knowing that it's only a matter of time before they starve. Might appeal to a simple-minded male chauvinist pig.

CHRIS ANDERSON

No comment.

SAMANTHA HEMENS

I just didn't find it especially appealing or addictive. Strangely the 12-year-old sister of a friend of mine loved it, and cleared seven or eight levels.

ROB PATRICK