BOH by developer editel is a unique shooter that doesn’t take advantage of modern 3D effects or high-end sound effects. Its 2D top-down visuals resemble something a bit more primitive at first glance, but looks can be deceiving. Developer editel spent most of its time fine-tuning the gameplay. BOH places the player inside dark dungeons crawling with monsters. The object of the game is to survive, kill the creatures, and to eventually kill the Masters.
The Masters are God-like beings that must be eliminated at all costs. During your adventure in these dark corridors, you will find items that will increase your firepower, your health, and even items like flashlights that will greatly enhance your viewing distance.
It is strongly suggested that you search for flashlight upgrades first; finding your way through the dungeons can be difficult. The dungeons have no walls (they are represented by darkness) which can make it difficult to discern between a wall or a possible exit into another room. Luckily there is a mapping system that can help you navigate through each room.
As stated earlier, BOH’s graphics are functional but nothing special. Developer editel stated that they wanted to retain a classic look by keeping them simple. This way of thinking may turn off the younger crowd weened on 3D explosions, texture-mapping, and transparencies, but older gamers will certainly appreciate the classic feel.
BOH is a quaint little game with plenty of heart. It harkens back to the days of computer gaming when gameplay took priority over graphics. While it won’t win any awards for its graphics, it will win over the hearts of anyone willing to venture into its dark corridors.
A playable demo is available for the Amiga (yes, the Amiga computer), PC, Mac, and Linux platforms. The ISO image is EUR 10 and retail (CD-ROM with box and user manual) is EUR 12.50.
Score: 6 out of 10
Mike “STGuy1040” Pittaro
Platform reviewed: PC
#1
Please let me clarify a few things for the readers’ convenience.
* “BOH by developer editel”
EDITEL is just the publisher: the developer is Simone Bevilacqua (me).
* “The object of the game is to survive, kill the creatures, and to eventually kill the Masters”
This description is very deceiving, as it focuses on the action. Instead, the objective is to discover the Evil Masters, kill them and reach the exit of each dungeon – the key is the exploration, not the action (in fact, killing enemies other than the Evil Masters does not constitute an advancement in the quest).
* “The Masters are God-like beings that must be eliminated at all costs. During your adventure in these dark corridors, you will find items that will increase your firepower, your health, and even items like flashlights that will greatly enhance your viewing distance.”
More precisely, there are three kinds of weapons, two kinds of shield recharges and three kinds of light sources; moreover it is possible to find also a 360° visors (which expands the field of vision), two kinds of automappers, two kinds of enemies detectors and a remote control.
* “It is strongly suggested that you search for flashlight upgrades first; finding your way through the dungeons can be difficult”
Actually no, the item that helps most in finding the way is the automapper.
* “The dungeons have no walls (they are represented by darkness)”
That depends on the theme (a theme is a sort of “skin” that redefines completely the graphics, sound and music) – f.ex., the themes “castle”, “underground” and “vectors” do have visible walls.
* “The retail version is available for $14.00US on the developer’s website.”
More precisely, the downloadable ISO image comes at EUR 10, the boxed CD-ROM at EUR 12.50 (in both cases, the customer gets the versions for all the supported platforms).
#2
Thank you for commenting on our review Simone. We would like to rebuttal a few of your comments if we may.
***(in fact, killing enemies other than the Evil Masters does not constitute an advancement in the quest).
Your description is not entirely accurate. The player cannot exit a level until he /she kills the Master at the end, so killing them does affect your advancement in the quest.
***More precisely, there are three kinds of weapons, two kinds of shield recharges and three kinds of light sources; moreover it is possible to find also a 360° visors (which expands the field of vision), two kinds of automappers, two kinds of enemies detectors and a remote control.
BOH is a small game. We felt it wasn’t necessary to mention every item in the game in this case. We have to leave some surprises for the gamer!
***Actually no, the item that helps most in finding the way is the automapper.
We stand by our opinion about the flashlight because this is how most gamers would see it, but the mapping system was mentioned however.
**That depends on the theme (a theme is a sort of “skin” that redefines completely the graphics, sound and music) – f.ex., the themes “castle”, “underground” and “vectors” do have visible walls.
This doesn’t apply to the version we reviewed.
**More precisely, the downloadable ISO image comes at EUR 10, the boxed CD-ROM at EUR 12.50 (in both cases, the customer gets the versions for all the supported platforms).
The information for pricing came directly from your official website.