Bruce Lee

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The plot involves the famous martial artist advancing from chamber to chamber in a wizard's tower, seeking to claim infinite wealth and the secret of immortality. There are twenty chambers, each represented by a single screen with platforms and ladders. To progress, you must collect (mainly by climbing or jumping) a number of lanterns hung in various points of each chamber which is guarded by two enemies; the Ninja, who attacks with a sword and The Green Yamo, a sumo fighter who attacks with punches and flying kicks. The Ninja and the Yamo are vulnerable to the screen's dangers (i.e. moving platforms directing to wall-mounted nails!), but have infinite lives so they always re-spawn after a few seconds. Note that, Bruce can only defend himself with a single punch or a flying kick at a time! Of course there are various hazards (mainly the in-door screens) to cope with such as mines and moving walls or surfaces that have an electric shock moving along it. This is a very enjoyable and addictive puzzle action game although its simplistic graphics! The fighting moves available to the player lack impact and are too limited for a puzzle game with beat 'em up "shots" but it is fun to play! Bruce Lee is still one of my favorite 8bit games!

GRAPHICS / SOUND
As in all other 8 bit versions, the BBC Micro graphics are poor, but still, acceptable enough to play this game. The visuals are more close to the ZX Spectrum version, but some detail is additionally missing! The level details mostly consist of Chinese style interiors and exteriors (same color palette as the ZX). Sprites are particularly small but "cute" with minimal details and, having limited frames of animation as the fighting moves available to the player are limited. Overall, as in all versions, though the game is simple, is a beautiful game to play. The weak side of the BBC Micro version is its sound that features limited SFX and no music at all (whilst the ZX, CPC and Commodore versions offer a main-menu tune), making the game almost soundless.