PuzzleBOBS is (obviously) a puzzle game, comparible to "Bust-a-Move", an interesting mix of Tetris and Connect 4. A rather demanding game, it requires a strong hand/eye co-ordination and a quick reaction to stimulae.
The background screens are presented nicely, and the game is very playable, holding a certain "just-once-more" feel about it. The lettering on the opening screen is a little difficult to see, being blue on a green background, but despite this, configuring to taste was fairly simple. There are many options, including the loading of mods to listen to whilst playing. Playable with either 1 or two persons, either CPU or human, and various methods of control, ie joystick, joypad, mouse or keyboard.
There is an option of screen sizes, from small to large, to enable different set-ups. Due to using PAL only, I was limited to the smallest size, but found the screen to be acceptable. I did attempt other sizes, but there was nothing else suitable. Also available is the option to play within a screen in a window on workbench (See pic).
The background to each area changes on each level, and these were pleasing, with no real distractions during play. There are two options for changing the backgrounds - Flags and Faces. (See screenshots). After trying both, my preference was for the Faces, as the ball colours were easier to recognise. The background changes with each level, encouraging you to continue to see the next.
There are options for setting sound, either from modules within the game, or using sound effects instead. The mods were good, selectable as sequenced or repeated, and did not become irritating.
The game played well under OS3.9, even on a simple, rather stock A1200 from CD Rom, although there is an option to install the whole game onto hard-drive if wished. This we like a lot, thus freeing the CD drive for other things, if you're as forgetful as I am for removing CDs when finished! I, however, chose the partial installation of key files, due to drive space, and accessed the CD during play. There was no noticable delay in reading data, thus holding up the loading times.
High scores can be saved to hard-drive, along with your chosen configuration, ready for the next session.
There are also two small patches obtainable from www.online.de, which are also easily installed, for those with graphics cards.
The game ran well with or without them on this set-up, as they were installed before I knew what they were for!
The game has been tested on many Amigas.
The minimum specifications are:-
A1200, 68020 processor, with OS 3.0 and roms, CD drive, and hard-drive.
Recommended set up is:-
68040/68060 with 16M fast ram, but will also run under UAE and Amithlon, which gives extra speed.
It is unusual to see a new title for the Amiga which is suitable for lower-end machines, which will run as easily on a broad range of higher specifications too. Released last year in Germany, and retailing at 20 EUR, available from www.funtime-world.de. Details are on the website.
Editors Note:- For UK residents, PuzzleBOBS will be stocked by Forematt Home Computing, Please keep checking their website for details
Game play was simple to learn, difficult to master, with a sharp increase in difficulty after Level 3.
The basics of play are as follows:-
A play area is in the centre of the screen, which has a pattern of coloured spheres, cutely featuring smiling faces, or representing flags, retained on an upper bar. At the lower end is a swinging fixed pointer which you control holding a coloured sphere which you will launch by pressing "fire" at - hopefully - a like coloured sphere. The "next" ball is also shown on screen, allowing an opportunity to plan the next move. Get three or more in a line, and they will disappear, earning you points, and clearing a portion of the screen. As time elapses the upper retaining bar descends, reducing your play area. If your pattern drops below the yellow bar at the bottom of the screen, it's "game over". (See screenshots). The first few levels are quite easy, but after the third, the difficulty increases sharply, as the spheres almost reach the lower bar at the beginning. I have not yet managed to progress past Level 5, but that is the challenge. As the levels progress, bomb spheres are bought into play, hopefully to eliminate difficult areas.
There are options for difficulty (Easy, Normal and Hard), number of players (1/2 - CPU or human), method of control (Joystick, Joypad, Mouse or Keyboard), and mode of play for dual play (Co-operative, and competitive, with a number of matches (1, 3, 5, 7)).
Our ten-year-old lad has tried playing, and has not yet succeeded in reaching my best score, but keeps returning to "have another go".
Asked for his opinion, he said:
"It's okay, hard but okay."
Will he play it again?
"What do you think I'm doing?" was the reply, clutching the joystick.
This was the opinion of a very critical Playstation addict, tearing himself away from the latest Playstation title. Good to see the Amiga being battled on, again.
Full details available from:-www.genie.it/utenti/nexusdev
Demo version available as download from:- www.funtime-world.de
Many thanks to the Nexus Team (pictured below) for producing a fine game.
Left to right : Stefano - levels design, Emanuele - programmer, Michele - graphics
