Bumble Bee Review
I just say wow. I was really looking for this game with some extra spirit in it. Something joyful to spend some time on. And I found it in this Bumble Bee review.
For starters this is a typical Pac Man clone. Differences to other clones is that they have thought about giving the game an extra challenge. The setup of the maze with the moving walls is a genious effect on the game.
The differences don’t just end there, they continue with that the actual spiders should be lured to the deadly flames or mushrooms, and yes they kill you as well. On occasions some fruits appear giving you extra points. Lastly some bonuspoint items appear in the maze for you to fetch during the play . Fetch them to reach the top levels.
A bad strategy is to wait to long for the spiders to die, as they reproduce in fast pace and you end up with no choice at all.
Suddenly when, and I say when because reaching the highscore table is really hard. You end up in a gamiefied version of entering your name into the table. If you have a long name you better hurry as time to enter your name is limited.
Go for it – this is worth a couple of hours play – how far can you get?
In the Magazines
Micro Power have gained an enviable reputation for producing quality software for the Electron, Bumble Bee is yet another addition to the range. The game has its origins in Pac Man and will appeal to arcadians who love being chased round a maze by assorted bugs and beasts. However it requires a lot more thought than the original when playing. You are the bumble bee in the title, scurrying round a maze of swinging turnstiles collecting pollen grains. Spiders emerge and chase you making the task more difficult. When you have collected all the pollen you buzz over to the Out sign and move on to the next screen. At 4,000 points you gain an extra life to add to the three provided at the start. The interesting part of the game is the turnstiles. You can swing them but the spiders can’t.
So you can block off the spiders in a different section, or swing a turnstile into their path if they are about to pounce on you. Entering your name into the high score table is almost as hard as the game. The letters of the alphabet are printed in a grid, you have to fly over the correct letters to spell your name — and it’s not easy as you buzz about the screen at top speed.
After an hour the high score table was full of names like RLANDI, RON AND and ROFLANG! The only grumbles are the length of the loader— 7k is just too long, I didn’t bother with it and just * ran the main program. And if you want to use joysticks you need a switch type joystick interface — it ignores the Plus 1.
Bumble Bee is a well written addictive arcade game with colourful, smooth graphics and good sound. It’s well worth buying, so start saving your pennies now.
By Roland Waddilove for Electron User Vol 2 Nr 5 January 1985
On the Cover
The Game:
Guide Bumble around the maze, swinging the turnstiles and collecting the pollen, keeping clear of the toadstools and the fire barrels. Pursuing you around the maze is a bunch of scuttling spiders who can only be killed by luring them into the fire barrels — they are unaffected by the toadstools. The pollen flashes to let you know that a spider is about to emerge from the central lair. When all the pollen has been collected panels open in the box marked ‘OUT’. Enter the box to progress to the next maze.
Controls:
From Inlay Bumble Bee Review
Other related content
Micro/Program Power Game Covers
Acorn Electron Game Cover Catalogue
Our Bumble Bee Review Rating
Our rating is straightforward here. If you love Pac Man, this is the clone for you. More challenging and more twists in the play. We give it four out of five Micro Power’s.
