Butchu and Fang - unite!
Graphics: 7
Sounds: 4
Value: 5
Tilt: 8
Please note that this review is based on the Atari XL series and not the C64.
New ideas fled into the computer gaming market since the crash of 1983. Considering that visuals are now the thing as the cinemas have proven (e.g. Star Wars saga, Tron and War Games to name a few), players now instead of viewing their heroes wanted to play them. Datasoft took this bull by its horns and produced many fine games that meet this market hence Bruce Lee was born.
The premise behind Bruce Lee is to locate the wizard deep within this fortress and naturally defeat him to gain infinite wealth and immortality. However it’s not the story telling that the players want but the skillfully placed kicks and punches to his adversaries and watch them fly backwards!
Datasoft took the platform game idea (which is still hot property) and instead of shooting your opponents, is to punch them. You can say that Datasoft cleverly combined two genres (beat’em up and platform) which was an inspirational concept. And who doesn’t want to be like the man Bruce Lee himself (maybe Chuck Norris)? So the controls were quite simple; stand and press the fire button makes Bruce punch whilst running and press the button makes him complete a flying kick. Pushing up makes Bruce jump (or climb) and push the stick down makes him duck (or decend)
Bruce has two main opponents throughout the game. The Ninja, who attacks with a bokken stick (which I called him ‘Fang’ as in Get Smart’s dog) and The Green Yamo (which I named him Butchu). Fang is the weaker of the two as he cannot climb whilst Butchu can do everything what Bruce Lee can do except for ducking (which can be quite helpful to avoid those flying kicks). However Bruce needs to be also aware of his environments as mines, electric sparks and plenty of jumping and climbing will enforce Bruce that the ultimate prize will not be easily accomplished. To move on one screen to the next, Bruce needs to collect a certain number of glowing lanterns suspended throughout the chamber/s and once reached the allocated target number the new path/door will open.
However the intensity increases during the multiplayer option. No more waiting for your turn, Datasoft ensures that players in ‘waiting’ can also have fun; that is have full control of Butchu so only Fang is controlled by the AI. This was a remarkable step in computer gaming as now the other player can play revenge as well as being the hero.
Visually Bruce Lee is quite pleasing to the eye. The Atari version which only uses 32kb (disc format) is quite impressive comparing to other games. Bruce himself moves fluent as well as Fang and Butchu. Nice choice of colours and animations makes this game stands out. I was even impressed that considering that Butchu cannot duck, if you pull the joystick down causes Butchu to yawn (moan?). The entire game also has this oriental feel and was quite a pleasant sight from that endless ‘spacey’ combat approach.
There are very little sounds in Bruce Lee. You can hear the running footsteps of Bruce Lee and the swift attack from Fang however beyond those ‘attacking’ motions there is nothing else left other than that weird sound when you die. Also there are no musical scores to be heard therefore playing this game can be a silent experience (other than shouting profanities to the other player who’s playing Butchu/Bruce Lee).
Considering there are twenty chambers to punch, kick and jump your way through, the game itself is remarkably short. For an experience player can knock it off easily within the hour. Yet it will get difficult once beating the game as the foes attack more swiftly and respawning considerably quicker, almost instantaneous. However combining this exceptional multiplayer option, you can spend many hours of playing time.
Bruce Lee is the start of things to come. Before this, computer games were pretty much nothing more than shoot’em up. Datasoft cleverly combined two genres (beat’em up and platform) and the ingenious multiplayer option pushed computer gaming to a new era. On the flipside, Bruce Lee was quite a violent game. Players can now quite literally punch each other and can cause confusion between reality and virtual. I have to admit that there were times that I though my brother would ‘save’ me however decided to kick me into the mines was not a pleasant experience. Nevertheless, Bruce Lee has made its mark and many more games followed.