Boulders and Bombs

Boulders and Bombs is an Atari 8-bit family video game written by Keith Dreyer and Torre Meeder and published by CBS Software on cartridge in 1983.[2] The player must dig tunnels so three people can cross from one side of the screen to the other.

Boulders and Bombs
Developer(s)K-Byte[1]
Publisher(s)CBS Software
Designer(s)Keith Dreyer
Torre Meeder[2]
Platform(s)Atari 8-bit
Release1983
Genre(s)Action
Mode(s)Single-player, asymmetric multiplayer

Gameplay

Presented in a side-view, roughly the bottom 40% of the screen is dirt and above that, sky. The player controls both an auger—which digs tunnels when moved through dirt—and a spelunker who can only move through cleared tunnels.[3] The joystick button switches between control of the auger and spelunker. Boulders slow down the auger's drilling.[3] The goal is to clear a path so the spelunker, who starts on the left side of the screen, can exit the right side, then repeat the process for two more spelunkers. All three must be freed over the course of one animated day/night cycle.

The sky is occupied by large and small birds, called alien bird creatures and alien probe birds in the manual.[3] The large birds drop rods which block tunnels. The small birds inject a fungus into the ground which spreads and is deadly to spelunkers. Both obstacles can be cleared with the auger.

When controlling the spelunker, moving the joystick in a circle drops a bomb which removes dirt and fungus. The probe birds can be killed if an exploding bomb hits the fungus injector before the injection process is complete.[3]

Multiplayer

From 1 to 3 other players (depending on the number of joystick ports) can control probe birds, affecting the primary player's game.[4] This can be done at any time without enabling a specific gameplay mode.

Reception

In a 2 out of 4 joystick review for Electronic Fun with Computers & Games, Paul Backer complained of the difficulty in planting bombs with a circular joystick motion, and also pointed out that a secondary player can easily finish off a spelunker by planting fungus directly in front of it.[4] He concluded, "This is a sound premise upon which to build a game. Unfortunately, the designers failed to provide an exciting challenge."[4]

The Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software 1984 gave the game a "D" rating: "The game just isn't exciting and can become frustrating, and I think most players will lose interest quickly."[5]

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References
  1. "Boulders and Bombs". Atari Mania.
  2. Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  3. "Boulders and Bombs Manual". archive.org. CBS Software. 1982.
  4. Backer, Paul (September 1983). "Boulders and Bombs". Electronic Fun with Computers & Games: 56.
  5. The Addison-Wesley Book of Atari Software 1984 (PDF). Atari Mania. Addison-Wesley. 1984. p. 181.
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