Alessandro Grussu


Bonnie And Clyde
By zosya.net
Spectrum 48K/128K/+2/+3

 
Published in Al's Spectrum Annual 2021

Bonnie And Clyde

Bonnie and Clyde - inspired by the historic criminal duo of the 1930s - are two white kittens whose aim is to steal the money placed on the game's 80 screens and guarded by a gang of black cats. Of the two, the player controls only Clyde, while Bonnie stands at the top of the screen throwing Clyde some objects, useful or necessary to complete the task.

On each screen there are platforms, coins to collect and doors from which enemies come out. Clyde must collect all the coins first; once this is done, a safe appears, which Clyde must blow up with Bonnie's dynamite. When the safe is open, a money sack and a ladder appear, so that Clyde can reach Bonnie, thus ending the screen.

Strangely, you don't need to collect the loot to get past the screen. To complicate matters, enemy cats intervene, which can take from Clyde one of his nine lives (traditionally, in Italy cats have two less!) both by touching and shooting him. Clyde can return fire, but ammo is limited, as is the time available to complete the screen. Luckily, Bonnie drops random bonuses like ammo, an hourglass to reset the time to maximum, or even a disguise that for a few seconds camouflages Clyde as a rival gang member.

There is not much else to report: apart from the backgrounds, which offer a certain variety, screens substantially differ only in the arrangement of platforms. Enemies are always the same and in the end gameplay tends to revolve around the same pattern over and over again. A somewhat disorienting fact, noticeable for example on screen 11, is that Clyde can reach a high position without jumping from a platform but by moving sideways and remaining adherent to a wall while jumping continuously in the air. Does he have some hidden plungers, perhaps?

Graphically Bonnie And Clyde is decent but nothing special: sprites are somewhat sketchy, while backgrounds are colourful and not overly detailed, which is perhaps a good thing since when they are, sprites tend to become less visible. Audio is represented by some beeper sound effects and a rendition of Scott Joplin's notorious The Entertainer on the home screen, but on the 128K you can hear AY tunes such as Maple Leaf Rag, also by Joplin. Ultimately, Bonnie And Clyde is a simple, straightforward, but neither very varied nor very deep action game. Good for "casual" players.

Alessandro Grussu

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