System: Commodore 64
Title: B. C.'s Quest for Tires
Publisher: Sierra
Circa: 1983
Overall Rating:
 



Intro

Based on a Sunday comic strip called B.C. by John Hart, B.C.s quest for tires is a fun and funny, fast-paced game.

This game won numerous awards including:

Critic's Choice Award - Best game for youngsters (Family Computing)
Arkie Award - Most humorous Video/Computer Game (Electronic Games)
Colecovision Game of the Year (Video Game Update)
Best Use of Graphics and Sound in a Video Game (Billboard)

Story

You play as Thor the Caveman (Not to be confused with Thor the Norse god of thunder), riding on your prehistoric stone mono-uni-cycle in a quest to rescue the beautiful Cute Chick from a very hungry dinosaur.

Gameplay

This game is very fast paced. You are in constant motion. Your goal is to rescue Cute Chick from the dinosaur (A speech bubble keeps appearing to the right to remind you... "help! help!"). Each level has several parts that you have to beat in order to get to Cute Chick:

In the first part, you have to jump over rocks and potholes.
The second is a foresty area that has logs you gotta jump over, and trees with branches that you have to avoid by ducking. All jumps and ducks require careful timing to clear the obstacle. Failing to clear the obstacle will cause you to lose balance and also a life (or a wheel, rather).
In the third part, you need to cross a river by hopping on turtles that are constantly emerging and submerging. If that's not enough, on the other side awaits your arch-enemy, Fat Broad, who urges you to Jump! Sucker, and can't wait to hit you with her club.
If you manage to roll past Fat Broad, you start a volcanic journey uphill where an avalanche has taken place. In addition to jumping the usual stones and potholes, boulders roll down from above and you have to jump them as well.
On top of the volcano, you have to catch up with a prehistoric Dooky Bird that will then pick you up and safely fly you over a lava pit.
Turning downhill, you must now accelerate to a high enough speed to leap over a cliff. The Dooky Bird has flown away and you are on your own on this one! Carefully time your jumping to clear this obstacle.
Suddenly, the volcano erupts! It's raining rocks! navigate carefully towards the cave entrance, avoiding this meteor shower.
Next, cross the river by hopping on the turtles' backs again, and get past the dinosaur and into the cave.
In the cave, jump and duck stalagmites. Exit the cave to find Cute Chick who is very grateful to have been rescued.

That's it. After completing all these stages you gain a bonus tire and advance to the next level which is basically the same but you move at a faster speed, and the obstacles are a bit more challenging. For example, instead of 1 rock at a time you might have to jump over 3 of'em.

Game is very fun, but unfortunately as it is fun, it is short. I feel as if it could have used more stages and more types of obstacles.

Multiplayer

Standard 2-player turn based.

Controls

Controls are simple and fast to learn. Left and right move Thor - you guessed - to the left or to the right. Move joystick up to jump, and down to duck. Holding the button while moving the joystick left or right decelerates or accelerates Thor.

Graphics

Funny and cartoonish graphics that will put a smile on your face. Some of the landscape, such as the clouds, look as if drawn by a 5-year old, which make the game look even funnier (and I mean this in a positive way). Very advanced graphics for its time.

Sound Effects & Music

Nice sound effects, but nothing special. No music really, only few tunes that play here and there.

Obscurity

This game is pretty well known. I asked around some friends who also grew up on Commodore 64, and most have heard of this game.

Summary/Author’s Take

You'll have lots of fun playing it, but unfortunately the game is too short.