ST Format


Bonanza Bros

Categories: Review: Software
Author: Linda Barker
Publisher: U. S. Gold
Machine: Atari ST

 
Published in ST Format #35

Bonanza Bros

Imagine being an absolutely brilliant burglar. Now imagine being caught. It's this sobering thought that opens your eyes - is a life of crime really worth it? Wouldn't it be better to spend your evenings watching late night television rather than traipsing the cold streets and putting your life on the line? Well, of course it wouldn't, but hey! - we need a plot. So Mobo and Robo, the cleverest thieves ever to be constructed from washing-up liquid bottles and double-sided sticky tape, have decided to throw in the swag bag.

One night, while waiting for the James Whale Show to start, the vertical hold goes all wonky. A strange man appears on-screen and asks you - Mobo and Robo - to test his security force. What you have to do is enter his buildings, evade the guards, guard dogs and traps and steal things. It's home from home - you get paid and there's no threat of jail hanging over your head. You take the job.

Bonanza Bros is a two-player arcade conversion platform shoot-'em-up. All you have to do is shoot down doors, stun the guards, grab the clobber and make your exit. It all sounds very easy but, of course, it isn't. The first couple of levels are dead easy - the guards are so lazy that you have no trouble stunning them. Just make sure the guard's got his back turned before you shoot the door open and you can cruise through. Confident that you're going to be finished in no time, you start the next level only to find that the guards have got things a bit more sussed out and there are horrid traps just waiting to trip you up.

What's more, you find yourself trapped between two doors with rough guards on either side - just waiting for you to poke your tubular nose round the corner. As soon as you manage to knock one of them out, the other one shoots and makes you drop your swag. These chaps just don't seem to realise that you've got a job to do.

Verdict

Mobo and Robo are so crap they deserve to become complete heroes. All your adversaries look the same - a big ball with legs and arms with a smaller ball perched on top. It's so bad, it's almost great. Almost, but not quite. Bonanza Bros is frustrating, ridiculous and fun. It's a tad too frustrating, so try and persuade somebody else to play with you and you can have a person to shout at, rather than just the screen.

In Brief

  1. Nifty platformer with two-player option.
  2. Completely ridiculous graphics that either makes you laugh or despair.

Linda Barker

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