Commodore User


Rock 'N Bolt
By Activision
Commodore 64

 
Published in Commodore User #21

Rock 'N Bolt

Ignore the lousy cover on the front of this game which makes it look like a turgid business game, Rock 'N Bolt deserves better.

The basic idea is to make your man bolt down moving girders and get him back to his platform before the time runs out. In most rooms you must follow a blueprint exactly to complete the job. Many rooms stretch across more than one screen. Some rooms have no blueprint so you must just bolt the girders down and make it back to the lift as fast as possible. You get less time on these.

Should you bolt down a girder incorrectly, your rivet turns red. Black bolts mean you've got it right. Flashing green bolts earn you an extra man, which you may well need if you run out of time. Flashing gold bolts earn you bonus money, because all the time you're bolting and moving up levels, you're making money.

The rock element of the title comes in with the soundtrack which accompanies your efforts. There are several different foot-tapping tunes, none of which have made me turn down the volume yet. They only serve to increase the feel of working against time.

Talking of time you get three options, the first of which is not really worth bothering about because the game relies very heavily on the race against the clock for its excitement. The graphics aren't particularly great but that doesn't matter because Rock 'N Bolt is pretty riveting stuff, although it's priced rather too high.