Bob Morane : Chevalerie 1

Copyright : Infogrames | Reviewed by : Malc Jennings

Bob is not exactly the kind of name you would give to a hero now is it? anyway Bob Morane has gotten himself in a little bit of bother again and is locked inside an evil tower, battling strange goblins and evil wizards it?s up to you to guide our poor lost soul out of the tower in one piece by tackling the evil hoards and solving puzzles along the way. Or something along those lines anyway :)

Graphics

Well Infogrames have released some corking games in the past for our beloved PC and despite this game being mainly unknown in the UK we must say that we were pleasantly surpsised by the quality we saw once the title loaded. The graphics are nicely drawn and animated, super colours are on offer throughout the castle and they really help to give the place a dark and evil atmosphere, the spinning Bob animation alone deserves some kind of recognition (take a look at screengrab 2). The only bad thing about the game is that it either runs too fast or incredibly slow, the less enemies on screen at once then the faster the game will run and vice versa. This is one game that, had it been converted into English, would have done well here in the UK and not just purchased because of the fancy cover art.

Sound

Sound is very nice indeed, while we don?t actually get to hear any in-game sounds in any of the eary locations (these would certainly liven the game up) we do get a very nice introduction theme that runs through the game. The music is right up there with classics like Silkworm and I urge all those that love the CPC music chip to give this one a try on your favourite emulator, very nice indeed and not one that will have you reaching for the volume control in a hurry.

Gameplay

Gameplay is very surprising, while you have almost no idea what the hell you are doing other than wandering around a very large game, it?s great fun to punch the wizards in the chops and spin off screen using the "spinning bob" combination. Seriously though, if you know were to go and what you are looking for, there is no doubt that Bob Morane is a very good game indeed, with a development team like Infogrames behind them it must be at least 50% playable.
The control system can be a little off putting at times because of the graphical glitches (slow down and speed up in certain rooms of the tower) but once you get the hang of things you?ll be chopping knecks and kicking buts like never before. There aren?t any serious problems in the game and almost nothing we could find fault with, providing you have owned this title at some point in your life then we are sure the replay value is through the roof. For those that have never even heard of the game we also recommend you give it a shot in your favourite emulator, you won?t exactly be loosing anything now will you?