8 year old Billy Blaze saves the world
You play this 2D platform game as the eigth year old kid called Billy Blaze. He's a bright young kid and takes it upon him self to build a space ship in his back yard. One night he takes off to Mars to explore, however the crafty Vorticons are worried about this boy wonder and try to stop him by stealing vital parts of his ship. Now its up to you to go find those parts...
So how did the game play you ask? Well, lets not forget you bought this game in 1990 and the game market wasn’t due to take off for a couple years. So for its time, this game was great.
This game was at the start of platform games, so they were fairly crude, however seen as innovative in their day. The quality of game is probably comparable to what you may get on your phone now (2006). The usual arrow keys making Billy walk to the left or right of the screen, avoiding the scurrying aliens en-route. Its up to you to find Billy hidden extra items to not only improve your score but also add to your arsenal of weapons or the playful pogo-stick.
It was a game no dissimilar to Mario. Jump the pit of spikes and mind you don’t bump your head on the ceiling clinging ivy etc. the problem with this sort of game was learning the nack of how high to jump. But once learnt you soon became a swift operator who could land and shoot the aliens in one foul swoop.
The graphics by Apogee and ID software were colourful and ideal for kids. Basic colours meant it was easy to recognise different types of material. So the light blue blocks were obviously a slippery ice surface. Remember this was the first of many Commander Keen games and those made large improvements as PC capabilities upped the anti.
Sounds were by way of the horrible inbuilt PC beeper.
The game became a life long task to finish the levels and move onto the next episode. This is a game that some kids were lucky enough to enjoy back in those days; for others it was just a matter of time until the consoles took over at an affordable price.
Classic old game for the memoirs but not enough to distract you from playing football on a sunny day. It was huge amounts of fun but not nearly as good as Wolfenstien.