C&VG


Bed Bugs

Publisher: Optima
Machine: BBC Model B

 
Published in Computer & Video Games #33

Bed Bugs

I think I'd rather have a quiet night curled up with The Beano than play this game. This is another program which just doesn't take enough advantage of the amazing capabilities of the Beeb. The alternative title is "just when you thought it was safe to sleep". Frankly, once you've loaded up the tape, you'll wish you had!

Your bed, at least in this game, is infested by bugs, fleas and jam.

Loading is impressive. The main title screen features clever graphics, with little red blobs moving along a white navy line to look like a brain scanner or something clever like that. The program also manages to play Rock-A-Bye Baby which the main part is loading. I don't know exactly how it does but it works. Just.

Bed Bugs

If you thought that you were now in for a great game then you'd be disappointed. The main screen shows the bed, depicted as a large green square (the sheets) with two pillows at the top. Down the left hand side of the screen are your weapons against the meanies which have come into the bed.

The meanies are fleas and bedbugs. Your defence is in the form of a sandwich, a pair of dentures, a sponge and a telephone. The sandwich, says the program, is good for swatting fleas but it has the annoying side-effect of leaving jam stains on the sheets. If you walk into a jam patch then you lose a life.

The dentures will kill fleas, but are best used for crunching bedbugs. Hmm. The phone is used to call for help, while the sponge is provided for mopping up the jam once a few fleas have been swatted.

Bed Bugs

Although the sound effects during loading are quite good, there's no sound at all during the game itself.

To start, you move a pointer up the left hand side and select the weapon you want to use. You then move round the screen and chomp through the bugs and fleas.

Control using the keys is fine, but for some unknown reason you have to press the Return key whenever you want to swat. Simply passing the sandwich, for example, over a bug will not kill it - you must catch it under the sandwich and then press Return. I though tthe program was not totally accurate in judging when I'd successfully swatted the bug.

Bed Bugs

The person in the bed is represented by a pair of feet, which flash onto the screen occasionally, and must not be swatted on pain of losing another life. Purely because of inefficient programming, you can't move while the feet are on the screen.

This is not the most exciting Beeb game I've played. I'd much rather watch the title sequence than play the game itself.

It's not worth the money but, if you want to see for yourself, it's available from your local stockist.