Bombuzal
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Little Bombuzal has to blow up bombs on little islands in this puzzle game. In order to advance to the next level, all bombs need to detonate. There are various sizes of bombs. Bigger ones have such a huge blast radius that Bombuzal cannot trigger them directly - instead, he has to explode smaller bombs first and cause a chain reaction. So as one might imagine, later levels turn into loud blastfests that need to be carefully planned.

Besides, later levels introduce all kinds of additional hazards and gimmicks, like ice floors, movable bombs, disappearing ground tiles, and much more. Nobody said being a pyromaniac is easy.

Trivia

Jeff Minter designed a level - when the bombs exploded it left behind a llama and a small pile of dung. Gary Liddon and Gary Penn created a giant ZZAP for one level.

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Manual :

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*   BOMBUZAL   *
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Typed by Postcard Man

In BOMBUZAL there are hundreds of explosive situations (levels) for you to defuse. Each task centeres around a floating platform built from tiles, some of which support bombs or other explosive devices, and others that support other things that will be explained later. It's up to you or a friend for this excercise can invove a second player - to destroy all the bombs on each level without getting yourself blown to kingdom come in the process.  To do so you control a little blue, blobby character whose sole task in life seems to be a very crude form of bomb disposal - there's no defusing things in this game, the only way to get rid of something is to blow it up.

OPTIONS
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ONE OR TWO PLAYERS: Two players can play alternately. Each can choose their own starting levels. If two play the same level they can either help each other or see who gets the furthest.

CODE: You can enter a code to begin jsut after a level that you previously completed. When you click on NEW you play Bombuzal from the level determined by the code in the CODE box. Clicking on CONT will allow you to start from the level you just tackled during the current load.

CONTROL MODE: You can choose Joystick, Mouse or Keyboard.

JOYSTICK: To keep everyone happy, two modes of joystick control are offered. With the pointer on this icon, double-click the left-hand mouse button to call up the two directional options.  A single click of the mouse's left-hand button while pointing at the revalent icon will determine whether you play using diagonal movements (useful if you play in the 3D mode) or horizontal and vertical movements.

MOUSE:    You don't really want to play the game with the mouse, but if you insist, the left hand button acts as the fire button.

KEYBOARD: You can define your own keys but these are the default keys.

Right - /      Left - .     Fire - Right Shift
Down  - Z      Up   - A

Keys that are off limits are the Space Bar, F1 and ESC.

PLAY MODE: Choose 2D or 3D. In the 2D mode you view the action from above.  The majority of the players perfer this graphically inferior mode.  So take a tip from us; use this mode if you expect to get anywhere in this game.  In the 3D mode you view the game from an isometric angle. The graphics are prettier and more detailed here, but figuring out where things are in relationship to everything else is tricky. 

BOMB DISPOSAL
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BOMBUZAL has two different types of explosive device: Mines and Bombs.  Both come in different sizes, and both types must be destroyed to complete a level.

The size of a bomb (or mine) determines its blast radius - basically how many tiles in its vicinity it's capable of destroying. When a bomb (or mine) explodes, any other bomb (or mine) within its blast radius is detonated too.

In this way complex chain reactions occur and can be used to your advantage when it comes to clearing a site. (It also means that if you don't take a bit of care you could blow yourself up quite easily.)

Mines are easy to spot - and detonate for that matter. Simply step onto a tile bearing a mine and BOOM! It's game over time - you're dead. The only safe way to set off a mine is by triggering it with an adjacent explosion.

Bombs on the other hand are a different kettle of fusion. Every bomb has a three second fuse and pressing the fire button while standing on top of the bomb starts the countdown while releasing the firebutton before zero is reached aborts the countdown and resets the fuse. The bomb actually go off until you step off the tile on which it resides, so it's no big problem if the counter reaches zero and you're standing right over the bomb.

Don't push your luck though - before you set one off, make sure the bomb is small enough that you'll be able to get out of the blast area in time, and that it's one that you really want to destroy. Setting off the bombs in the wrong order can make a level impossible to complete, so you should only really activate a bomb if you're sure you want to do it.

PLAYING THE GAME
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You need to be careful when moving your character about on the tiles because if he falls off a tile and onto the blue parquet style floor below,he dies. And you must move your man quickly out of the blast area before the bomb detonates, because your man will stop running and if he is too close, that's one less life. The fun ends when all your lives are used up. 

The one thing that you must remember while playing the game is never, never stand still for too long no matter how tempting it may be. Remaining stationary for 10 seconds or so prompts the appearance of a five second timer. When it starts to tick down above your head you know that something bad is about to happen. And it will if you don't move before the timer reaches zero. What sort of bad thing? Well, if you happen to be standing on one of the normal tiles when the timer depletes, the tile in question turns into a Spinner. These nasty blighters wisk you off your tile whether youwanted to go or not.

There's no pause mode, so you can't sit back and assess the situation  at your leisure. It was purposly ommited - since a lot of the challenge of the game is that you must keep moving and think on your feet. Thus allowing you to assess the situation at your leisure would be a no-no.

If you manage to complete a level you will be given a four level code.  By entering the code in the CODE box you can begin play from where you left off at, or you can repeat a level that you would like to play again.

One good tip is that when you come across a layout with numerous dissolving tiles, walk over as many as possible before attempting to complete the level. This earns you far more points that you would get with the Floor Bonus.

SPECIAL KEYS
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There are a few very special keys that might be useful to know about:

SPACE BAR: Before you even begin to blow up any bombs, it's a good idea to view the situation. Press the Space Bar to call up a map of the current level.

SPACEBAR:  again (or the Fire Button) to return to the real world. Note that the timer does not stop while you actually view the map - that would make life far to easy.

ESC:  Press the ESC key to quit to the title/option screen. 

THE DIFFERENT TILES
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As with bombs, things aren't as simple as they first appear. Each of the tiles have decidedly different properties. Such as....

NORMAL TILES - Mundane in every way, it's destroyed by explosions but not contact with your character. First appearance Level 1.

DISSOLVER -    This tile, recognizable by its interesting cracked appearance, lives up to its name by dissolving as soon as you man has touched it and moved on. You can't go back that way again.  First appearance Level 1.

ICE -  You just can't stand still on one of these. In fact you can't stand on one of these at all. First appearance on Level 2.

SLOT - Here's a novelty - bombs may be moved about on these from one slot to another connecting slot. A bomb on one of these special embossed tiles is picked up with a quick tap on the fire button and dropped with another quick tap. Note that you can not carry a bomb past another bomb or from a slot to any other type of tile. When moving bombs, it's not always easy or time effective to execute a quick press of the fire button to drop them. Instead, if possible move onto another tile either with a bomb on it or without a slot. The bomb will automatic-ally drop to the floor. First appearance on Level 3.

TELEPORT - It doesn't, as you you might expect, teleport you to another tile with a teleport on it. In fact you won't know where a teleport takes you until you enter into it, and by then it may be too late.  Yes, it is a risk, but one that is often worth taking, and at least the destinations remain constant for each level. Note that if your man moves into the teleport tile after detonating a bomb, he won't reappear until the explosion has stopped - even if the teleporter has been destroyed. This can prove a very useful way of saving your life, especially as the large bombs are notoriously difficult (impossible) to get far enough away from to survive.  First appearance Level 6.

RIVETTED - Rivetted tiles are rough `n' tough and more than capable of surviving the mightiest of explosions. First appearance Level 13.

TEMPLE -   By absorbing the explosion of a neighboring bomb (or mine), this tile suppresses the blast radius to a single tile and destroys itself in the process. First appearance on Level 17.

SPINNER -  Throws you off one tile away in a randomily determined direction.  These also appear if you hang around doing nothing for too long.  First appearance on Level 17.

SWITCH -   It works in much the same way as the bomb, only it doesn't explode when the timer runs out. Instead, its effect is reversed. A switch which is thrown will change the map in some subtle way. It could even be the addition of a bomb. (It's always worth throwing any switches you come across to see what they can do - often a level will only be completable when you take advantage of them).  First appearance on Level 11.  

GUIDE TO BOMBS
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There are all sorts of bombs that you will encounter in Bombuzal.

SMALL MINE:  First appearance on Level 11

LARGE MINE:  First appearance on Level 17

SMALL BOMB:  First appearance on Level 1

MEDIUM BOMB: First appearance on Level 2

LARGE BOMB:  First appearance on Level 3

AERIAL BOMBS: Or A-Bombs as they are sometimes known. These devious devices are just like their regular conterparts but with a special feature: when one A-Bomb is dedonated it sets off all the other A-Bombs on that level, regardless of their proximity.  They come in two sizes, too; Large and Small. Both first appear on Level 12.

SWELL BOMBS:  These are so-called not because they are but because they do.  The Swell Bomb increases and decreases in size (ie sometimes it's effectively a small bomb, sometimes a large one) until either it or any other type of explosive is activated. Then it goes off - when its blast radius is determined by the size at the time of the incident. First appearance on Level 13.

BOMBS & THEIR BLAST RADIUSES (OR DEATH & HOW TO AVOID IT)
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The size of the bomb is directly proportional to its blast radius. Thus a small mine and a small bomb will have the same destructive force. The only exception being the Large Mine, which has a blast equivalent to that of a medium bomb.

SHADED: Bombs (or mines) on these tiles will be set off, and the tiles themselves destroyed (with the exception of those that are iinvulnerable).

OPEN:   Bombs (or mines) on these tiles will be set off, otherwise the tiles will remain intact.

LARGE BOMB: A bomb (or mine) will only set off another if their blast radiuses actually butt up against each other.
 
ENCOUNTERS WITH ALIENS
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There are four freaky alien types, two of which are good. The other two are bad and should be avoided at all cost.

THE GOOD GUYS 

When you find one of these chaps you can take control of it in much the same way you set off bombs - by holding down the fire button until the timer hits zero. While you are in control of one of these robots, your man can't  be hurt by enemies, so it's safe to just leave him where he is and forget  about him for a while. He can still be blown up, so watch where you're going.  When a good fella is dead, you'll find that the control reverts to your man.

BUBBLE - This red robot is so stupid it treats all bombs as mines. Just be careful that he doesn't fall off the edge before he gets a chance to explode. First appearance on Level 17.

SQUEEK - Your blue buddy is marginally more intelligent than Bubble, and as a result does anything you can do - including falling off the edge.  First appearance on Level 13.

THE BAD GUYS

They are just that. You can avoid them or blow them up - but whatever you do, don't touch them.

SINISTER: This big yellow ball only ever turns left. First appearance on
          Level 17.

DEXTER:   The cluster of four yellow balls always.... (missing last sentence)
