Bridge-It

It seems fitting that the first ever "Game of the Day" featured on 8-Bit Heroes should be the first ever game that the creator of the site played on his very first games machine... It really doesn't matter that the game in question was one of the worst to ever be released for that machine - it has a place in history!

Back in the 80's while consoles ruled around the rest of the world MicroComputers were where it was at in Europe. Whereas console games came on cartridges and weighed in at a hefty price, computer games came on normal (for the time) cassette tapes and it was usual to not only be able to pick up a new game for £1.50, but for several games to be thrown together as a compilation.

The Amstrad CPC 464 came bundled with one such compilation. Ten individual games all cellophaned together side by side in one big long train of digital goodness straight out of the box - and Bridge-It was fortunate enough to be the first game out of the wrapper and into this excited youngsters hands.

The concept is simple: Computer controlled people enter the screen from the door on the top left of the screen and mindlessly walk across the walkway towards the door on the bottom right. The players role is to lower each of the four bridges as the person approaches it, preventing the character from falling down the hole and the player from losing a life.

The kicker is that only one bridge can be lowered at any one time - each of the four main directions on the joystick lower a particular bridge on the screen and the longer the player lasts, the faster the characters walk and the more characters will be on screen at any one time.

The premise itself doesn't sound too bad, especially in an age of one touch gameplay iPhone games. Unfortunately the whining music and incredibly simple, infuriating gameplay means that this goes down as one of the worst CPC games of all time.

The fact that I felt it important enough to be the first game featured on 8-Bit Heroes must surely be a testimant to just how powerful those rose-tinted glasses can be.