Designed by Colin Fuidge, Aunty Milton & Captain Creative
Commodore 64 version:
Programming by Jo Bonar and Dave Korn
Graphics by Paul Docherty
Loading screen by Bob Stevenson
Music by Rob Hubbard and Jori Olkkonen
Released by Firebird in 1987
Sinclair ZX Spectrum version:
Programming by Christian Pennycate
Loading screen by Jodie
Released by Firebird in 1988
Amstrad CPC version:
Programming by Christian Pennycate
Graphics by Alex Smith
Released by Silverbird in 1989
---
GAME STATUS
To start this year's comparisons on a lighter note, I have chosen one of the earliest Firebird games from my C64 collection, just to feed my nostalgia for a change, but this doesn't mean this is going to be yet another Firebird February here. You can consider as this something like a transition. BMX Kidz is not exactly a game I hear talked about or featured in the Top Insert-A-Number Best C64 Games Lists on the internet, but what it really is, is the closest equivalent to Nintendo's Excitebike that we had for the C64 at the time. And, I suppose, still do, which is an equally good reason to give this game more advertising space.
---
DESCRIPTION & REVIEW
If we start drawing comparisons to Nintendo's undoubtedly more classic Excitebike, Firebird's equally side-scrolling tilted-viewed bike-racing game does not have small motorbikes or mopeds, but rather the equivalent in bicycles, as should be evident from the title - BMX Kidz. Without a second fire button at hand, the bikes in BMX Kidz do not feature two gears; rather, the focus is on your energy consumption, performing wheelies and jumps while racing to win each course, and avoiding taking damage from other players - another feature not present in Excitebike - and bad landing of tricks.
I freely admit to being biased to the C64 version for nostalgic reasons, but I am looking forward to seeing, how the other two versions are built. Based on my experiences with the C64 game, though, BMX Kidz has the potential to being a properly fun and addicting game, but the controls and stunts being difficult to master, make this game a hard one to like, and to be honest, I don't think I have ever gotten past the fourth level, and getting even there was more of a stroke of luck than skill. Still, it is a pretty good budget title, and worth taking a look, but if you're looking for a bonafide classic in bike racing, you might as well switch to Nintendo. But then, you would be giving BMX Kidz a disservice.
---
LOADING
As we have learned from previous Firebird entries, their loading sequences are rarely worth giving any advertising space, and BMX Kidz offers no real exception. The only points worth noting here are, that the SPECTRUM version loads much quicker than the others, and only the C64 version has two loaders of distinctly different length, although in appearance, both the Firebird and MCM releases are very much the same. The less said about the AMSTRAD loader, the better.
AMSTRAD: 7 minutes 16 seconds
C64 - Firebird: 6 minutes 6 seconds
C64 - MCM: 6 minutes 34 seconds
SPECTRUM - Firebird/MCM: 3 minutes 53 seconds
 |
| Loading screens, left to right: Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC. |
---
PLAYABILITY
BMX Kidz boots up to a vertically scrolling bunch of text, acting as a title screen. You get no immediate instructions of how to start the game, or how to play it, so your most logical option to get that information would be the tape cover inlay. If you don't have that, then you should know, that the C64 version is played strictly with a joystick in port 2, the AMSTRAD version with the cursor keys, and the SPECTRUM version uses an uncommon combination of keys: O/K = up/down, Q/W = left/right, and P = jump/wheelie. Starting the game is done with the designated fire button, but in the SPECTRUM version, you need to press the P key slightly longer for the game to actually receive the command.
The way to control your BMX racer is, that you pull your joystick (or press the appropriate key) to the right to accelerate, and left to decelerate, and then move up and down to adjust your vertical position. Pushing the designated fire button will pull a wheelie while on leveled surface, and jump when on a ramp. To perform a stunt, you need to pull the joystick top-left while in mid-air, while your fire button is pressed down, and you need to land your jump perfectly in order to register the trick successfully.
Because pedalling your BMX bike is highly energy-consuming, you will need to collect refreshing beverage cans to replete your energy, although the beverages will only give you a little bit of energy at a time. The energy meter has three levels; you start with the highest one, so you know what riding full-speed is from the beginning. The two lower levels are significantly lower, so you do not want to stay under the top level for too long, so in order to keep yourself in front of all your competitors, collecting all the beverages you are able to, will be necessary. Colliding with other BMX racers and landing your BMX badly from a jump will gradually break all your spokes, and when you have none left, it's Game Over. So, to keep your spokes level up, you need to collect wheels. Wrecking your BMX bike, or at the very least, failing to perform the required tricks for a level or finishing the course under the time limit, will end your game, as you get no spare attempts.
The difficult thing about the C64 original is, that you never really know, whether you have successfully pulled off a wheelie, because the game doesn't inform you of it the same way that it does with successful jump stunts. Also, the way the game decides upon the success of your jump stunts is sometimes a bit off, since you can sometimes hear the whirling bell while mid-air. So, this is in no way a completely bug-free game.
The courses themselves can be memorized relatively easily, even though there are no laps of the same course, but rather one ride-through from A to B. For each of the first three courses, you basically have two or three designated stunt ramps, where you jump automatically - these are visually notably different from the usual ramps - and in the rest of them, you can either jump manually or just paddle through. The wheelies can only be pulled off in longer stretches of leveled ground. Unfortunately, one of the most unpredictable, and frankly, unnecessary elements in BMX Kidz that was not copied from Excitebike is the group of opponent bikers that will move around with no clear sense of purpose or direction, as if they have some serious trouble with keeping balance. They will not get destroyed by collisions, unlike yourself, so you will have to keep out of everyone's way as much as possible. Perhaps it's unnecessarily tricky, but this is not an NES game - BMX Kidz is serious business. I assume.
At least, you get the first course as a practice round, to test and work on your skills on the given tricks, although you do still need to finish in the top half of the competitors to get to the next stage. The next two courses add the amount of wheelies and stunt jumps you need to perform in order to proceed to the next stage, but it is only when you get to the fourth course, that you get some new kinds of ramps introduced to the game. That is where my expertise on the game ends.
Since the SPECTRUM version was released second, let's dig into that one next. Basically, the gameplay is the same as in the C64 original, but there are a few notable differences. The first thing you will likely notice is, when you land a stunt or a jump badly, your bike slows down almost to a halt after landing, and getting your bike back to speed takes longer than in the C64 version. Colliding with opponents doesn't eat up your spokes quite as quickly as in the C64 version, but to balance that out, energy depletion has a more drastic effect on your speed. More annoyingly, your opponents do not seem to always suffer from the same problem with energy depletion, and you will see some of the competitors start riding faster all of a sudden, even without picking up a beverage.
On the plus side, you hear indicator sounds for both successfully performed tricks, which helps you determine, whether to bother trying any more tricks or not. Also, there is a bit more variety in types of ramps from the first course onwards than in the C64 version, and doing a wheelie takes less time. In balance, it's not too much worse than the original, but with the untraditional keyboard controls, it does take a bit of time to get adjusted to this one, so it's not something I would recommend easily.
The AMSTRAD version seems a bit more lenient on the way it qualifies your performed tricks, and you need even less time to do a successful wheelie, than you do in the SPECTRUM version. Since you are given joystick as a controller, it is easier to actually control the BMX bike than in the SPECTRUM version, too. Also, there are even more new ramp types here than in the SPECTRUM version, so it's a bit more interesting to play from the start, than either of the other two.
On the other hand, you have a less accurate and smaller visual energy indicator, so you can't really tell exactly, when your energy is supposed to get too low. Also, the time limit for each course is a bit harsher than in the other versions, so you need to be extra vigilant on both picking up all the beverages and to try not to collide with competitors. While the AMSTRAD version is probably the most player-friendly one in terms of controllability, the time limit and the comparatively uninformative energy indicator is what makes it a tough one to enjoy as much.
So far, the original C64 version is just a little bit better than the later ports, simply because of the way it is balanced. If the AMSTRAD version had slightly more humane time limits for each course, I would probably consider that the winner here. As it is, it shall be at the number two spot.
1. COMMODORE 64
2. AMSTRAD CPC
3. SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM
---
GRAPHICS
BMX, being a popular extreme sport at the time, had been used as a basis for computer games many times prior to BMX Kidz, in various styles. So, the only thing Gigglywurx thought of doing to make the game appear to the popular standards, was to make it look something like Nintendo's 1984 side-scrolling moped-racing game, Excitebike, probably because in 1987, Nintendo were finally starting to gain some foothold in the European gaming market.
The original C64 version's graphics were made by Paul "Dokk" Docherty, who is more widely known as a loading screen artist for such classics as Black Lamp, Druid II, Gothik, IK+, Park Patrol, Solomon's Key and Vendetta; meanwhile, the almost equally prolific loading screen artist Bob Stevenson did the loading screen. This might perhaps seem a bit odd, since BMX Kidz's title screen is not much more than a text scroller that looks like it should belong in a mid-late 1980's scene demo.
 |
| Title screens, left to right: Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC. |
What you basically get here instead of a traditional title screen, is a credits screen with the usual greetings, followed by the high scores table, with a white custom font on black background, with large yellow caution lines siding the text bits, scrolling at a slower speed than the text. Nothing too fancy, but looking at the other two versions, it seems like a demo scene production. The C64 version of the title screen uses the full active screen area, so it features 26 rows of text with line spaces between each item. The AMSTRAD version tries to copy the look with the yellow caution lines siding the text, but the used screen area takes only two-thirds of the top area of the screen, because of how the machine handles different graphics formats; hence, the displayed area only allows for 14 rows of text at once, but unlike the C64 version, it doesn't use any customized character graphics (see the stylized 'DOKK' in the C64 screen), even though you do get a custom font. The SPECTRUM version has no yellow bars, and the now green text is displayed in a small, badly defined area, that can only display seven lines of text, because here, every line of text alternates with a line of space.
When starting the game, between levels and and the end of your run, you get text screens with white text on blank, black background. All three versions use a different font, different messages and different styles of presentation. In the C64 original, all the text fades in line by line from top to bottom, while the AMSTRAD version shows the text in a slightly sloppy look with a flatter font, and the SPECTRUM version uses a horizontal scroller at the bottom area of the screen, showing barely 11 letters at a time, thus rendering the screenshots a bit awkward.
Text screen examples, left to right:
Commodore 64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC.
 |
| In-game screenshots from the Commodore 64 versions, tracks 1-3. |
While the backgrounds are very nice, thanks to the use of shading and well-placed terrain textures, it's the BMX racers themselves that give the game some actual life. The bikers are animated smoothly and have enough of frames not to be considered cheap, and each of the six competitors have wear shirts of their own particular colour. Unfortunately, the parallax scrolling effect we saw in the title screen is not featured in any way in the game itself. Then again, this way the game looks and moves crispy clear and smooth. Also worth noting, that the info panel at the bottom of the screen is small but clear, and shows you everything as clearly as is needed.
 |
| In-game screenshots from the Sinclair ZX Spectrum version, tracks 1-3. |
The action screen is monochrome, and it takes less than 50% of the screen's usable space, but the basic colouring and themes for the courses are the same as in the C64 original. Since it is all monochrome - red and black, green and black, or whatever, the details can sometimes get lost in the monochromacity, and naturally, all the contestants wear the same colours. The only upgrade of sorts compared to the C64 version is a thin layer or details at the bottom of the action screen that scrolls at a faster speed (yay, parallax) than all of the above in the action screen.
 |
| In-game screenshots from the Amstrad CPC version, tracks 1-3. |
As for the Mode 0 part of the screen, the AMSTRAD version gives a fair attempt at keeping the spirit of the C64 original in tact. However, you only get four cyclists, from which you are the only one wearing different colours; the background graphics are mostly rather different from the original, and the animations and terrain textures have been given less focus to look as natural. Perhaps most unfortunately, though, the speed changes are not nearly as smooth as in either of the two versions.
.png) |
| High score tables, where available. Left: Commodore 64. Right: Amstrad CPC. |
Obviously, the C64 version gives the most fulfilling, the most optimized, the prettiest and most demo scenerish display, there is no denying that. The AMSTRAD version tries to keep up with a fairly similar look, while the SPECTRUM version tries something very different; both ending up doing something rather good in balance, while doing something else not so well. I cannot honestly say, which of the latter two versions should be considered better, but for the sake of keeping the original level graphics designs and having all six cyclists in, I cannot completely disregard the SPECTRUM version either, no matter how ugly the "rad" redesign is. The thing is, both the AMSTRAD and SPECTRUM versions are equally problematic in their presentations, so they shall have to share.
1. COMMODORE 64
2. AMSTRAD CPC / SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM
---
SOUNDS
One might dare to claim, that the original C64 version of BMX Kidz might not have been as popular as it was, had the soundtrack not been as fantastic as it was. The main theme tune by Rob Hubbard, which plays in the title screen, is just about 50/50 regular SID sounds and samples, since it features drums, a voice sample, sampled bass and some odd effects here and there. However, the samples don't necessarily help, if the tune itself isn't good enough, which it thankfully is, but then, you need to have an old 6581 SID in your C64 to get the full experience. On a 8580 SID, some of the samples get drowned in the mix. The only other actual tune in the game is played in the high score entry screen, which is a fantastic piece by a Finnish guy by the name of Jori Olkkonen. (I have used this tune in my YouTube videos about Finnish game reviews - in connection to their entries on the blog.)
There are no separate Get Ready or Game Over jingles, since there is no actual Game Over jingle - rather a large balloon blowing its air out; and the Get Ready jingle is ripped straight from the main title tune. There is one very brief jingle, which is played when you complete a course successfully; a very quick and percussive little fanfare that's over in less than two seconds.
Probably because of the extravagant music, there are not that many sound effects in the C64 original. When the players take off, you hear nothing, so the first sound you will probably hear is either an item being picked up, which makes kind of a "doodle-oo-dee" kind of a short melody; a loud "booiiinngg" when anyone jumps; a bad landing noise, which sounds like an odd mechanical mishap "ph-ts-tchoo"; or a rumbling noisy mess when a number of cyclists collide with each other. The only other sound effect in the game that I haven't mentioned yet is a high whirring blare sound for succeeding in a stunt jump, unless you count a weird random breathy whistle every now and then. I don't know what that is or why it happens occasionally, but it's there.
The SPECTRUM version is 48k only, so it's beeper all the way. What I mean by "all the way" is, there is no music, and the sound effects are pretty run-of-the-mill beeps and spurts. At least you can easily tell all the effects apart from each other, and every little thing that has a sound effect plays when it is supposed to.
Unfortunately, the AMSTRAD version doesn't fare all that much better. You do get stereo sound effects produced by the machine's AY chip, but with only five sound effects, it's not all that much to go on with. Most of them do sound different from the C64 equivalents, but the jumping "boing" is sort of similar. Once again, it's stupidly easy to determine the winner here, but the AMSTRAD wins the SPECTRUM version just by a dog hair's width.
1. COMMODORE 64
2. AMSTRAD CPC
3. SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM
---
OVERALL + VIDEO
In the end, BMX Kidz is one of those games, where you have to wonder, was it really even necessary to try and convert this to the two machines it was never going to work that well on in the first place? At least, not in the form they were released. Well, here we have the final results, no matter how useless they are at this point...
1. COMMODORE 64: Playability 3, Graphics 2, Sounds 3 = TOTAL 8
2. AMSTRAD CPC: Playability 2, Graphics 1, Sounds 2 = TOTAL 5
3. SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM: Playability 1, Graphics 1, Sounds 1 = TOTAL 3
So, it appears the ratings at the usual websites weren't unfounded in the least. If you haven't experienced the three versions for yourselves, nor do you wish to, you still have the option to watch the game in action on all three platforms through this comparison video by yours truly.
That's it for now; next time, we will steer completely off from Firebird, but it's still phonetically fit for February. See you then!
No comments:
Post a Comment