BC's Quest for Tires

The Good
When Sydney Development created their last two games, their aim was to teach children about spelling and mathematics, respectively. Their third game, however, is not educational. Instead, it borrows gameplay taken from the early Eighties video game, Moon Patrol; and like the last two games, Quest for Tires is based on another of Johnny Hart's comic strips, People who have read them will be familiar with the characters. The player takes control of Thor who must journey through the countryside with his unicycle in search for Cute Chick who is held hostage by a hungry dinosaur.

There are many obstacles in the game, with the most common ones being rocks in the ground that you need to jump over, similar to what you do in Moon Patrol. Not only that, but you also get to duck under trees and fly over gorges and swimming pools. In most of the scenes, you start off riding your unicycle at 20mph, but you can keep increasing the speed if you like more of a challenge. In fact, greater speeds play a vital role in getting across the other obstacles such as the swimming pool and gorge. Timing plays a crucial part in a few scenes. If you attempt to jump over or duck under an obstacle too early, then you will fall flat on your face.

There are a few scenes involving turtles that duck under water, with Fat Broad standing next to them. Fat Broad is hilarious as she clobbers them rather than the snakes like she usual does in the comic book. Again, timing is crucial and you need to focus on the turtles and Fat Broad's club. If you focus on the club and then jump on the turtles' backs as quick as you can, you are more likely to drown.

Most of the scenes in the game are outdoors, with the backdrops mainly consisting of mountains and trees. The graphics look as if they are drawn by a five-year-old. The animations are funny; Thor riding his unicycle is cute, and I like the way Thor looks at you and frowns before falling over a rock. Also, what's funny about the hungry dinosaur blocking the entrance to the cave is that he just smiles at you instead of coming to attack Thor.

Controls are fairy simple to use. Pushing up on the joystick makes Thor jump over obstacles, while pushing down makes him duck under trees. Moving Thor right and pressing the fire button speeds his unicycle up, useful for getting over obstacles quicker while jumping. Moving Thor left and pushing the joystick in the opposite direction slows it back down.

Some of the backgrounds are incomplete as there is a huge amount of white space below the mountains, which could have been used to display lush, green meadows instead. There is no music during the game, only sound effects are used for certain events.

Quest for Tires is one of the shortest games, with the average person being able to complete it in ten minutes, providing they don't lose a life. There are no cut-scenes that serve as the ending; you just restart the game with the same difficulty.

The Bad
Some of the backgrounds are incomplete as there is a huge amount of white space below the mountains, which could have been used to display lush, green meadows instead. There is no music during the game, only sound effects are used for certain events.

Quest for Tires is one of the shortest games, with the average person being able to complete it in ten minutes, providing they don't lose a life. There are no cut-scenes that serve as the ending; you just restart the game with the same difficulty.

The Bottom Line
Quest for Tires won several awards, “Most Humorous Video/Computer Game”, “Best Game for Youngsters”, and while I disagree with it, “Best Use of Graphics and Sound in a Video Game”. The plot is typical to those video games released at its time. As I said before, this game is similar to Moon Patrol but with more involved, with your character having to jump over rocks and duck underneath trees most of the time. I think the reason why this game is so short is because youngsters may only focus on one thing for just ten minutes and they're off doing something else. Just ask my two-year-old niece!