Amstrad Action


Boulder Dash
By First Star
Amstrad CPC464

 
Published in Amstrad Action #1

The name describes perfectly what it's all about - there are lots of boulders and you really have to dash.

It's set in some diabolical underground cave. You control Rockford, a stick-insect figure with an impatiently-tapping foot, who has to collect jewels by running into them. On each screen you have to collect a certain number of them within a time limit before an exit door will start to flash and you can move to the next screen.

You can move through the earth but the boulders pose more problems. These are subject to gravity and if one drops on your head it crushes you. They can also trap you in a spot where you can't get out, or block off your route to an essential jewel. You can push boulders about though, and even stand directly underneath them. On some caves things get even tougher because of the presence of fluttering butterflies and pulsating fireflies that will explode on contact with you. These both move along the tunnels in the earth with butterflies turning right whenever they come to a turning and fireflies always turning left. But these nasties do have their uses - if you can drop a boulder on them, a butterfly will turn into nine jewels while a firefly will just explode, clearing a small space of everything except metal cavern wall.

Boulder Dash

Amoeba and magic walls appear on some screens and produce some fascinating effects. The amoeba is a green blob that grows with the passage of time to fill any surrounding earth. It can be used in two ways: a butterfly will explode on contact with it to produce jewels, or if you can completely enclose it with boulders (so it has nowhere to grow) it will also turn into jewels. The trouble with the amoeba is that it can grow at different speeds, either too fast or too slow for your purposes. If it gets too large it will turn into boulders.

Magic walls look like ordinary walls but when you drop a boulder through them into a cavity below, it will transform them into jewels. You don't have it all your own way though, since the wall will only activate for a short period of time and jewels dropped through it will reconvert into boulders.

After every four screens there are single screen intermissions posing quickie problems to be solved in order for you to get a few jewels. They always have a short time limit and you can't lose a life on them. Extra lives are awarded every time you score five hundred points, up to a total of nine lives. The points value of a jewel varies with each screen but in some caves you can score lots of points towards new lives.

Boulder Dash

The 16 screens keep the same basic layout over the five levels but the positions of boulders, jewels and creatures will alter to make things gradually harder. All the caves are very colourful but most importantly feature some real brain-aching problems to be solved in order to get jewels. The sound effects are good with explosions, the crash of falling rocks, the tinkle of tumbling jewels and the scrape of Rockford's feet. The scrolling is good too although it isn't 100% smooth.

Good News

1. Terrific cave graphics. 2. Good sound effects and title music. 3. Lots of diabolically difficult screens. 4. Perplexing problems in the midst of hectic action. 5. Tremendously addictive as you fight your way through the screens. 6. Imaginative screen designs and creatures.

Bad News

1. Scrolling isn't perfect.

Second Opinion

I was really grab-factored by this one. It's one of those rare ideas that will trap even the virulent anti-gamester by its mixture of brilliant simplicity and sophisticated execution. Graphics are superb, the sound is atmospheric and I was even quite taken with the scrolling. An instant classic.