Bazooka Bill


by Greg Holland, Craig Smith, Brian Post
Melbourne House
1986
Your Sinclair Issue 16, Apr 1987   page(s) 66

Melbourne House
£8.95

Bazooka Bill is a multi-screen arcade shoot 'em up aimed at the weeny Rambo-ette end of the market. Your mission, virtually impossible, is to singlehandedly rescue General MacArthur from the heavily armed (but remarkably stupid) revolutionaries.

You begin unarmed, but being in the Ninja class of hand to hand combat, this is no great disadvantage. You've lateral control over Bill and can negotiate a variety of ladders. These rungs of destiny have two purposes - the obvious one, and, how's this for cheapskate evasion of 3D effects, they also act as corners. Yup, climbing some of these ladders takes you into different parts of town. Well, saves getting the bus, I s'pose.

Along the way you'll be constantly beset by lemming-like revos who insist on throwWig themselves against your fists. As you slay your way round town you can pick up knives, machine guns and the obligatory bazooka to add to your deadly toy collection. As you run out of ammo for each weapon Bazooka Bill automatically adapts to use the next weapon available to him.

Ignoring the whole questionable premise of the game, Bazooka Bill's main problem is, quite simply, his utter tedium. There's a limit to just how much bloodshed is entertaining, especially when background graphics are plain, manoeuvrability limited, tactics zero and resourcefulness required minimal. I reckon this one should be renamed Bazooka Bilge! But you might like it!


Graphics: 3/10
Playability: 4/10
Value For Money: 2/10
Addictiveness: 4/10
Overall: 4/10

Transcript by Chris Bourne

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