Bomber Bob Download (1990 Amiga Game)

Bob is the sort of performing dog you'd normally expect to find on That's Life. He's cute, has large floppy ears, a stupidly lovable face, and he's got a talent for flying bomber planes. He does this remarkably well. Why a canine with such cute sad eyes should want to partake in an all out offensive against similarly well trained pets is beyond me, and I can't turn to the instructions for clues because they're all in Italian.

Bomber Bob is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up. It doesn't offer anything new in the game design stakes other than its cuteness, which makes even the characters in New Zealand Story look like burnt New Zealand lamb chops. It also plays brilliantly. I wouldn't be surprised if it appeared in coin-op form -it's that good. As you travel through the many levels you are attacked by waves of enemy aircraft and a smattering of ground attack silos. Enemy planes attack from different heights but you have to match their altitude to shoot them down. Hitting enemy targets earns money which can then be used to buy extra weapons at the end of each level. Before the money can be spent, however, you have to get through 'The Tunnel', a 3D section not a million miles away from the trench sequence in Star Wars. This time the tunnel has more twists in it than a Cadbury's Spira. I found this section to be taxing, yet learnable, but I cannot understand why the tunnel gets brighter as it recedes into the distance.

Graphically, Bomber Bob is top class. Vaguely reminiscent of an ST game, the graphics are brightly coloured, perhaps a little too bright, and instantly lovable. The full-screen scrolling gives a true arcade effect, and the simplistic, if tiny, status window gives the game an uncluttered look. Sound-wise, Idea have created some interesting spot FX. Unfortunately, they take up a lot of memory so their use is limited.

It's difficult, granted, but the attack waves can be learnt, and slowly but surely you'll find yourself flying through the game. Three cheers for original product!

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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