When it comes to clones, I would normally rant and carry on like a child throwing away all his toys through the window. Void of creatively aiming to get a quick buck or two is not cool at all. However that’s life in general. Nevertheless, he comes another game that, on the surface looks like a clone job however when digging a little further, it wasn’t. Yeah it looks like Dig Dug with a splash of Miner 2049er however the gameplay really feels unique enough to call it its own. This game I’m talking about is Boulder Dash from First Star Software – well actually programmers Peter Liepa and Chris Gray wrote this however, like the title refers to, dodge those boulders to collect those sweet, sweet jewels.
Deemed as an arcade type of game (i.e. using only the joystick and fire button) it’s a little more than just that as it requires forward thinking and for certain levels, trial and error. You control the main character Rockford and his goal is to collect a certain amount of jewels to advance to the next level. How to do this is via the joystick and good reflexes. Why reflex is important is because of those boulders – they are not friendly at all. Basically the game plays upon ‘physics’ so if there’s nothing to support those boulders, they will fall down, meaning if poor ole Rockford happens to be in that path, say goodbye and thus lose a life.
So how this happens is that Rockford enters some sort of cave system to collect a predetermine amount of jewels. He digs his way through the caves and if it happens that there’s a boulder (or even a jewel) above it, it will fall down until something solid halts it. And this serves the main core of the game – collect jewels and dodge. So as you can imagine, reflex and forward planning is a must as there are levels where’s a bucket load of boulders are scattered about or even many enclosed areas, meaning a falling boulder can easily block your only escape route. If this happens, there’s a ‘suicide’ key forcing poor ole Rockford to die. Yep, even the programmers had their ‘forward thinking’ caps on.
And let’s face it – a cave full of boulders, walls and jewels is not exactly thrilling so to add to this mayhem, there are levels that certain guests arrives like the growing amoeba (where it will eventually die after it fills up 200 squares or being surrounded), butterflies that once crushed by a falling boulder, turns into jewels, fireflies that once crushed it explodes and finally enchanted walls (walls that looks like an ordinary wall until a boulder falls through it). And all of these are not just for show as some levels requires you to utilise them to get jewels. For example: there are four butterflies and no jewels in sight so you need to crush all the butterflies by slamming a falling boulder onto it to collect the jewels or maybe trap the amoeba as it will turn into jewels as well. However don’t let the amoeba grow too large as it will suffocate and then turns into boulders, not jewels!
If that’s not enough, my pet hate, the timer counts down as well as once it hits to zero, say goodbye Rockford. This I really didn’t enjoy as there are some levels that requires a little bit of grey matter and having that timer forces you to make mistakes. I’m not saying get rid of it however I was hoping that the timer forms part of the higher difficulty levels. Speaking of which, there are five difficulty levels to choose from however what separates them is that the timer starts off less than the previous difficulty level and Rockford moves faster. Other words, it’s just the same as Rockford’s faster movement counters the less time on the clock.
A saving grace here is that, considering there’s sixteen caves to complete, you can skip them by having the starting point at one of three junctures - at level E, I or M (as each level is labelled as an alphabet). However you don’t have that option for difficulty level four and five as you have to start from the very beginning. Also, you start off with three Rockford’s and gain an additional one at each five hundred points earned. And another Rockford is earned when completing a playable intermission. Take note though that those intermissions are extremely hard to complete and I feel that one of them has a bug. After all of this, I still say it’s not enough as there are certain levels that will cause mega frustrations.
Visually it’s a pretty game to see – that is every item from the boulders to those glittering jewels are very attractive to see. Rockford is certainly is the highlight visually as his eyes will blink and he taps his foot impatiently if he’s standing still for too long. To memory, I think this is the first game that done this or if not, certainly one of the earliest games. The sound quality is equally decent ranging from the catchy opening tune to the thumping sound of a rolling boulder. Even the jewels make a sound when tumbling down with that sweet chime. The amoeba sounds like some gurgling mess (as it should) and the explosions will make you jump for a moment.
Considering the game was made in 1983 however it was eventually released in 1984 - a mighty fine product to say the least. Filled with action mended with strategy, the small imperfections like that dreaded timer can cause frustrations thus leaving a sour taste in your mouth. For me, I have actually quitted this game time and time again as I reached a ‘bottleneck’ at certain caves however still come back for more punishment! I think it’s because Rockford is such an adorable character, he deserves to conquer all the caves, albeit there’s no fanfare when doing so! Regardless, Boulder Dash certainly meets up to its title and expectations of blending arcade style with strategy. A fine product not to be missed.
8.5 / 10