Alternative
£3.99
0977 797777
Reviewer: Jonathan Nash

Here at YS, we take our small mercies where we find 'em. For example, in Bully's Sporting Darts, the game that features Bully, the comical bull from the hit TV series Bullseye there's no sign whatever of Jim Bowen. So straight into our Small Mercies file it goes. But enough of this trumpery moonshine, as some hair with Fergus McNeill beneath it once said. (That Fergus, eh? Ed)

Bully is another pub darts game game (Or even pub darts darts game. Ed) in the mould of 180 or the suspiciously-similar-to-180 Wacky Darts. You play a spooky floating hand that seems to be under the influence as it wavers all over the place, and by judicious use of those rubbery things on the keyboard, you have to guide it so a dart is neatly placed in the appropriate spot.

CABBAGE CRATES OVER THE BRINY

There are a rather large number of options in Bully. Aside from the usual five-hundred-and-one game, you can play five other dartish pieces. Glance at the box for the full list. Done that? Good. You can either play against the Speccy (on one of nine skill levels) or else invite a bunch of pals around and have loads of fun in an exciting variety of ways, such as playing one-on-one (not basketball), or forming opposing teams (still not basketball).

Now this has always struck me as a somewhat distant possibility. Picture the scene. A disaffected group of young peeps, wondering just how to spend those long hours of the evening. Suddenly! Timkins snaps his fingers. 'Why don't we all go back to my place and have a game of computer darts?' Nope, it's about as likely as the gang playing computer Trivial Pursuit. (But... Ed) Hang on, it was meant to be sarcastic. (Oh. Ed)

But anyway. Grabbing a single dart-inclined friend shouldn't be too difficult. (That's strange. All of a sudden I really feel like a game of darts. Ed) A-ha! Here comes one now. (Pause while the YS editorial folk play a selection of darty games.) Well, that was an experience. Linda forgot her glasses, so we had to share mine. (Squint city! Ed) Pah. Anyway, the general consensus is that we had a pretty good time - unlike the other darts numbers, when you play the special games Bully clears away the extraneous bits of the board to make everything much clearer. There's also a really horrible timer that counts down relentlessly as you struggle to aim at the treble twenty - when it reaches zero, the dart lets fly anyway. Snarl! Fave spesh game? Tennis, without a doubt. Worst one? Has to be Cricket - it's so blinking tricky to score. (We're both crap at darts, y'see.) The others, it has to be said, are much of a muchness - the novelty wears off really quickly.

THE END BIT. BASICALLY

Qm slofy nim bim ergle. (Have your glasses back. Ed) Oh yes. Bully is a fair darts game, which stands up well to the best of the rest - the venerable 180. On the debit side, all but one of the extra games are pretty boring - only Tennis has that urgency to it as you make impossible returns and miss really easy shots. (Speak for yourself. Ed) Oh, and there's no mention at all of Bully himself, apart from a teeny mug-shot gracing the top-right of the screen. What a shame. (Thinks) No hang on, that's got to be worth another ten per cent at least.

Label: Alternative Software
Memory: 48K/128K
Tape: £3.99
Reviewer: Tom Guise

Super, smashing, lovely, great. Take your time and listen to Tony because it's time to tuck into a prime bit of bully on the Speccy. Yep, that's right, Bully, the prestigious Taurian and famed celebrity superstar of top TV gameshow, Bullseye, has arrived in a blaze of darts. However, if you're a fan of either Jim Bowen (you sad person) or the show, you may be a tad disappointed because both are nowhere to be seen. In fact, this isn't even a normal game of darts. It's Bully's Sporting Darts.

Allowing one person to play against the computer, or a number of players to compete against each other, Bully's Sporting Darts features seven different games of dartboard-related action. For the traditional darts enthusiast, there are two standards in the form of 501 and Round The Clock.

501, the most popular game, requires each player to reduce their original score of 501 to zero by the value of each throw. With Round The Clock, a player must hit each number on the board in turn, staring at one and ending with a bullseye. Good old-fashioned darts, but wait, that's not all, as the title suggest, sports is the name of this game.

Ever tried playing football, golf or tennis on a dartboard? How about snooker or even cricket? If no is the answer, and you think it all a bit ridiculous than look no further. It is. Let's take Football as an example. Only the top half of the board is used for this game. Each segment at either end of the board is a goal and the twenty segment is the centre line. Each player takes it in turn to hit the highlighted section of the board, which at the beginning, is the twenty segment. If a player aims correctly, the highlighted section moves closer to the opposition's goal area - once within the goal area, a player must hit the bullseye to score a goal.

All of the various games use this kind of strange rule system to produce a darts version of these classic sports. For example, in snooker the numbers one to 15 on the board represent the red balls, with 16 to 20 signifying the colours and the bull representing the black ball.

Scoring is achieved in an identical way to a normal game of snooker. A red ball must be potted and then a colour. Each time a red is potted the relevant segment is removed from the board. When all the reds have been potted, the colours must be then potted in order, finishing with the bullseye or the black ball. It probably sounds confusing, but the layout is simple and user friendly, highlighting the important segments and removing sections of the board not in use. This, coupled with the on-screen instructions soon allow you to get to grips with the routine.

The control method is particularly strange. Using a joystick, the throwing hand can be moved around the screen and the fire button releases the dart. This would be oh so simple but, true to darts' origin as a pub game, the controlling hand has obviously been lifting a few too many pints and it weaves its way around the screen an unpredictable, drunken fashion. It really takes some struggling with the controls to aim anywhere near the correct area, but with continued accurate shots can be executed.

The complex sporting theme of the game is quite interesting, but it doesn't really make the game anymore exciting than a normal darts bash (yawn). As far as computer darts games go, Bully's Sporting Darts is quite good and the control method works well, but any real darts enthusiast would surely be much more inclined to play the real thing on the back of their bedroom door instead of on their Speccy.

STEVE:
What a load of old cattle turd. In my opinion, Jocky Wilson's Darts is a lot better, if there can be such a thing where computer darts sims are concerned. It may well be one of the country's top pub sports but I think it should stay there.