Bruce Lee

The Good
Although it's actually a very short game, beatable in well under 30 minutes of play, this works to its advantage; the frustration of losing your last life at the infamous "fireball room" (which comes up right before the final boss) is made up for by the fact that it features lots of varied environments and gets more difficult as you progress through the game at a fairly consistent pace.

Instead of having fixed enemies like in almost all platformers, the enemies(two of them) spawn at random in Bruce Lee. This is a source of much of the excitement, as many unpredictable things can happen when the AI starts chasing after you; your fighting abilities are equal, in that you can both perform punches and flying kicks, take a few hits before dying, and crush each other by falling. (The player can also go prone and become immobile but able to avoid hits, but that's his only advantage) What makes it interesting is that a lot of rooms have laser beams(or plasma or electricity or spikes or something) that require timing to get by, and they will zap you if your fall or run is disturbed by the odd punch or kick.

The Bad
The controls can be a bit unforgiving; being designed for a 1-button joystick, you had to press up or diagonals to jump. To do a flying kick instead of a punch you had to start running and then press the button. In fact, the fights are probably the poorest part of the game, although they had the satisfying aspect of being able to trick the simplistic AI into its doom in many situations.

The final boss is not even a fight - it's like a precursor to Bowser in SMB1; not bad for 1984, but dated today. You run across the room, not getting hit by the relatively slow-moving bolts he fires, pick up a torch and it's all over. It's the rooms before him, disappointingly, that are the hard part.

The Bottom Line
A short, reasonably challenging(but not insanely so if you are an experienced gamer) and satisfying adventure. Running around collecting lanterns and torches and escaping a ninja and a green fat monster doesn't have too much to do with Bruce Lee's movies, but it makes for a fun game.

The Good
As with many of the games of it's time there was a thrill just clearing one screen to move to the next. If you were in the mood just to do some karate you could wait for the bad guys to re-spawn and keep beating them up. The platform action was top notch. And there was just the right amount of puzzle to figure out. The controls are simple and tight and perfect for the old one button joysticks.

The Bad
After finally figuring out how to get to the boss and then figuring out how to beat him, the game just rolls back around to the first screen all over again. It doesn't get much harder just more enemies come at you. There was not much incentive to work your way back up to the boss again.

The Bottom Line
Take a karate game where you get to punch and kick your way past your enemies and set it on a platform. Time your progress to avoid things when you need precise jumps. Throw in some logic puzzles where things need done in a certain order. And there you have Bruce Lee. Want some two player fun? The second joystick controls the bad guy which makes for a very challenging game. Make sure you get all the lanterns and try touching anything that looks out of place. Practice your flying kicks grasshopper, they will serve you well.

The Good
Bruce Lee is a decent platform game with a lot of action thrown in. Reflexes are needed to pass certain sections, as is a lot of timing to jump past obstacles. You're pursued by two enemies, who unrelentlessly come after you, snapping at your heels.

It's very fun for anyone who likes platform games.

The Bad
There is no "easy" mode to help novice gamers get used to the game. Also, fighting the enemies is relatively easy and just gets irritating after a while. Finally, Bruce Lee only runs at the correct speed on a 4.77MHz PC.

Well, one more gripe, actually--you're Bruce Lee, yet you only have two moves, punching and a flying kick. A little disappointing from a master of martial arts.

The Bottom Line
If you love platform games that require good reflexes and timing, Bruce Lee fits the bill. I mean, come on--you're Bruce Lee!