Producer: Bug-Byte
Retail Price: £2.95
Language: Machine code

The story is thus - the really evil Kaptain Kleptor has planted bombs all over the Pentagon in an attempt to try to blow it up. Why? Well, like most power crazed loonies, he wants to rule the world and is trying his hardest to get to the position of World Leader. In the Pentagon he's not only left bombs but also robot guards to make sure that his explosives explode. The FBI refuse to give into such pressure and have hired you, Bomber Bob, to deactivate the bombs.

There are no less than fifty rooms in the pentagon, which are laid out platform style in various configurations with bombs lurking everywhere. Taking the role of Superhero BB, it is up to you to travel round the room, defusing the bombs. At the start of the game you are given the choice of four doors, each of which leads into a different room in the pentagon. As you complete each screen, you are again given a choice of four doors and quite often get a little witty message thrown in for free!

On the face of it, BB's task doesn't appear too horrendous. While the bombs have been put in tricky corners, Bob's an excellent jumper and has no difficulty in reaching the explosives. All he has to do is touch a bomb, and it is instantly disabled, disappearing from view.

Just to make your superhero life a little more difficult, however, Kaptain Kleptor has left his robot guards behind him, as well as bombs. There are five types - globes, walkies, grabs, dynamiters and homers. Globes continually float around in the rooms rather like balloons and are deadly to the touch. Bob's got an Anti Globe hat one, and can head them away but if any other part of his anatomy touches a globe, it's curtains for sure. Walkies do just that they trundle along platforms and floors and pose problems, being deadly to the touch. Occasionally a walker will fall off a platform and turn into a globe. Homers a slightly intelligent (but not very) and are pretty deadly since they try their best to home in on you. Grabs appear on later levels - these are attached to the ceiling and one nip is deadly. Grabs also drop dynamite on Bob if he stays too long in one position.

The odds are not totally stacked against you, however, as the mad Kaptain Kleptov foolishly left a few of his Robot Control Pads lying around the place. If Bob picks one up, he can freeze robots for a little while in a room at the press of a button.

COMMENTS

Control keys: Z left, X right, O up, K down, P jump, M activate the control pad, A pause, S start
Joystick: Kempston and Interface 2
Keyboard play: unresponsive
Use of colour: not very exciting
Graphics: big, but undetailed
Sound: burble
Skill levels: four
Screens: 50

I found the game a bit dull really - although it resembles an arcade game Bomber Jack it's nowhere near as good. Some of the screens are diabolically hard - not the type of difficulty that keeps you coming back for more, but the underhand, totally unavoidable difficulty which makes you want to throw your Spectrum out of the window. There are a few nice touches, like the witty comments when you move between rooms, but overall it's disappointing. Although it's cheap, the contents aren't worth that much.

Nice big graphics and a jolly tune are about the only thing Bomber Bob has to offer. The gameplay is incredibly slow - your character moves around the screen at such a slow pace that the game becomes very monotonous after a few goes. Some of the screens are so hard that I couldn't see myself completing them without the hours of practice that are required - especially since the game doesn't deserve such attentions. Generally I wouldn't recommend this game as it is boring and totally infuriating. Even so there are far worse cheapo games on the market.

Well, Mastertronic started out with far worse games than the new Bug Byte budget range, so the future of Bug Byte doesn't look all that black. Bomber Bob is a well finished game with some highly detailed characters, especially the main character, Bob, who is great in the way he flies around defusing bombs with the greatest of efficiency. I enjoyed flying Bob around, and the comments during the changing of screens added that extra touch of humour that I reckon every game needs. Not too bad an attempt at all.

Bug-Byte
£2.95

Quick! Kaptain Kleptor's hidden a whole stack of bombs in the Pentagon, and it's up to our gallant hero to defuse 'em.

The explosive action takes place in one of those a-maze-ing room games that we all know and love - well, I do anyway! You'll find the bombs tucked away in awkward nooks and crannies so get searching. But keep a sharp eye open for the usual collection of sentinels bouncing around, ranging from diamonds to spacemen looking like extras from JSWII.

On the face of it, the rooms look a doddle, but hang on a sec, there's a slight problem. Our hero, all togged up in his super hero suit (A sort of bomber jacket? Ed), has a terrible tendency to bomb around the screen - that's why he's called Bomber! Off he goes, crashing into every meanie that moves and a helluva lot that don't. So, Bomber, lovable as he is, needs a firm hand on the joystick.

True, the game contains nothing you won't have seen before but I still found Bomber Bob great fun. One to pass a boring afternoon when the bomb drops!