C&VG
27th August 1991Bonanza Bros
They fly, they spy, they death-defy! It's the Bonanza Bros! Sega's answer to Raffles and Hudson Hawk, these guys are apparently the world's top cat-burglars! They have a rather different job this time round: instead of robbing houses for the money, a super rich corporation has hired them to test their security.
Being the world's foremost experts on robbing houses, they seem like the logical choice. Robo and Mobo (bizarre names) have to check lots of buildings. To do this, they must break in, avoid the security staff and pinch several objects on a list. Once done, Robo and Mobo have to reach the rooftop to be airlifted to safety!
Then it's off to another building for a bit more light-fingered tom-foolery...
Dead Heat In The Zeppelin Race
Robo and Mobo have a rather novel escape method! They always get away quickly and mysteriously and nobody seems to know why. Well, the secret is out. After each burglary, a dirty great Zeppelin swoops from the sky and rescues the criminal buddies.
You'd think that a giant purple sausage would attract more than a little attention from the local constabulary. Nope. These boys are top flight blag artists and no mistake!
Big Blag Brilliance
Bonanza Bros is a horizontal scroller which allows you to wander the buildings at will, armed with a rather slow and rather sad gun which stuns the security guards and other building staff.
Once you've picked up an object, you sling it in a bag over your shoulder and look for the rest. Once you have all the objects on the list (different for each building) you make your way to the rooftop, avoiding guards. Then it's off to another building for more of the same. Hurrah!
Door Slammin' Fun
As you progress through the game, you'll find that the gun is a bit limited. It can't fire through doors and this is generally where the guards hide. Fortunately, if you wait until they get close to the door you can throw the door open and smack them in the teeth with it! You can also hide in alcoves and wait until the guards go away. The only really safe point in the game though, is on the stairs.
The baddies have a strange inability to climb, which is a bit of a godsend really!
Frank
Anyone who remembers Bonanza Bros from the arcades will recall the weirdo graphics and bizarre sound effects. Well, the good news is that both of these have been faithfully replicated on the Amiga version. The only thing missing is the control method.
The arcade used two fire buttons to control the characters - one for jumping and one for firing. This method is lost on the computer versions and to jump you have to use a combination of up on the joystick and fire.
The game itself can be a right old laugh: the buildings often get maze-like and the bad guys can be a real handful. The intro sequences are smart and the graphics throughout are attractive, even if they are weird! Neat tunes and extremely funny sampled speech add to the proceedings and you'll have many a chuckle over this.
It all boils down to whether or not you enjoyed the arcade game, and if you did, then this is the game for you!