Personal Computer Games


Bumpers

Categories: Review: Software
Author: TH
Publisher: Dragon Data
Machine: Dragon 32

 
Published in Personal Computer Games #9

Bumpers

Bumpers is a novel variation on the maze-game theme. In this one the maze is invisible and instead of playing against the computer, you can play against a friend. The two players, represented by a blue and a yellow head, start at the top left and bottom right corners of an empty square.

You can set the size of the maze before the game begins. Maze walls only become visible when you bump into them. Naturally, some of the walls are booby-trapped. Touch one, and you lose the game immediately. Since it's impossible, at the early stages of the game, to figure out which walls *are* booby trapped, there's no point worrying about where they are, just look out for the three walls at each dead end.

The game has a number of refinements. If you choose to play against a friend rather than the computer, then you both get the chance of laying three booby traps of your own. The machine plays a little tune as you lay the trap, so unless your opponent is hard of hearing, he can try to memorise your position at the moment the tune sounds.

You can also spoil your opponent's attempts to feel his/her way through the maze by manoeuvring your token over the other and pressing the fire button. This transports your opponent to a random location elsewhere in the maze. The one worrying factor in this game was a tendency for the soundtrack to build up in pace and keep racing on even when the game was over. It sounded suspiciously like a bug to me. But perhaps there is a solid strategic reason why the programmer wants to force you to turn the sound off after ten minutes' play. Fun if you like this sort of thing.

TH

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