B.C.'s Quest for Tires
| B.C.'s Quest for Tires | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Sydney Development |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Designer(s) |
Rick Banks Michael Bate [1] |
| Platform(s) | Apple II, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, C64, MS-DOS, MSX, ZX Spectrum |
| Release | 1983 |
| Genre(s) | Action |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
B.C.'s Quest for Tires is a 1983 video game designed by Rick Banks and Michael Bate and published by Sierra On-Line.[1] It was released for the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, ZX Spectrum, MSX, and Apple II. The game is based on the comic strip B.C. by Johnny Hart, with the title being a play on the title of the contemporaneous film Quest for Fire.
A sequel, Grog's Revenge, was released in 1984.
Story
The player takes the role of the caveman Thor, who has to rescue his girlfriend, "Cute Chick", who has been kidnapped by a dinosaur. To do this, he must travel on his stone unicycle (actually an impossible wheel) through several levels. Each level has Thor moving from the left to the right, avoiding various dangers.
Gameplay
B.C.'s Quest for Tires is an action game taking place on several consecutive levels. The levels start out simple, with Thor having to jump over potholes or duck under tree branches. Later levels become more complex, for example requiring Thor to jump on turtles in order to cross a lake, or to be carried over a lava pit by a "Dooky Bird".[2] Other B.C. characters, such as the Fat Broad, also appear on some levels.
Reception
Softline stated that, given the conventional gameplay ("it's that get-from-point-A-to-point-B kind of game"), the use of the familiar comic characters made "the player feel like finishing the game is worthwhile ... [Otherwise] it's just not the same". The magazine concluded that "B.C.'s Quest for Tires isn't so much a computer game as it is an interactive cartoon. This cartoon has its limits, but it does provide some challenge".[3] Antic approved of the game not being another "'shoot the aliens and save the world' scenario", and the "first rate" animation, but predicted that most players would "enjoy the game for a day or two, then relegate it to the shelf".[4] Compute! praised the game's "excellent graphics" and animation, which "approach cartoon standards".[5]
The game won a number of awards:[2]
- Critic's Choice Awards - Best Game For Youngsters (awarded by Family Computing).
- Arkie Award - Most Humorous Video/Computer Game (awarded by Electronic Games).
- Colecovision Game of the Year - (awarded by Video Game Update).
- Best use of Graphics and Sound in a Video Game - (awarded by Billboard Magazine).
- 1984 Golden Floppy Award for Excellent - Funniest Game of the Year, Video Games Category (Computer Games Magazine).[6]
References
- 1 2 "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers". dadgum.com.
- 1 2 B. C.'s Quest for Tires Review
- ↑ Yuen, Matt (Nov–Dec 1983). "B.C.'s Quest for Tires". Softline. pp. 21–22. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
- ↑ Bernstein, Harvey (March 1984). "Product Reviews". Antic.
- ↑ Trunzo, James V. (April 1984). "B.C.'s Quest for Tires". Compute!. pp. 99–100. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
- ↑ "Computer Games Magazine 1984 Golden Floppy Award for Excellence". Computer Games Magazine: 19. July–August 1984.
External links
- B.C.'s Quest for Tires at MobyGames
- B.C.'s Quest for Tires at SpectrumComputing.co.uk
- Screenshots of the game
- Video capture of B.C.'s Quest for Tires