Bud Tucker in Double Trouble Review

|Tap-Repeatedly|FFC Archives

           

Bud Tucker in Double Trouble

Review by Jen

Bud Tucker in Double Trouble is another one of those extremely rare and much sought-after games that I play and review from time to time, for what I don’t know—it’s not like they’re readily available to anyone who might be reading this. However, I was able to borrow a copy of Bud Tucker, and I am once again led to wonder why all the brouhaha about this and other games of its ilk (such as Flight of the Amazon Queen and Orion Burger). Sure, it is an okay game, but it is far from being one of the greats. One thing that surprised me is the lateness of the release date: 1997. How did this game become so rare so quickly? Plus the whole game looked and played as if it were from a much earlier period … say, 1993, which is deep into the Jurassic era of graphic adventure games. In style of gameplay and graphics quality, it was comparable to The Secret of Monkey Island or Beavis and Butt-head in Virtual Stupidity, although those are both much better games than Bud Tucker. (I’m guessing the programmers started the game in 1993 and it took that long to finish, and meanwhile their efforts did not keep up with the fast changes happening in the computer world.)

You play as Bud Tucker, a pizza delivery boy. Your best customer and friend, the Professor, has invented a machine that can clone inanimate objects. Oh boy, you think, pizza for everyone, all the time. But alas, it is not to be—in bursts the evil Dick Tate and his two henchmen. They steal the cloning machine and kidnap the professor. Dick Tate goes on to adapt the cloning machine to duplicate people and starts populating the world with his brainless creations. The game plays out in three distinct chapters: Your first mission is to locate the professor, your second mission is to escape from Dick Tate’s stronghold, and last but not least, you must save the world.

The mechanics of the game involve an inventory and a wide selection of verbs. You choose how you want to interact with what, and combine inventory items, and all of those standard strategies that have served you so well in the past. It’s just pure point-and-click, no dying, and no timed sequences. One nice thing is that the inventory dumps out after each chapter, so you get a fresh start in your junk acquisition.

In theory, you can’t make a mistake, but I ran into a huge programming loop kind of thing that is worth mentioning: I took certain actions that landed me in jail, escaped from jail, went back to the place where I started the actions that landed me in jail, and then went back to jail again. However, the second time I was in jail, all of the things that appeared onscreen right before I escaped from jail were still there, but they were inactive and I could not get out. I tried pretending that nothing had changed from the first time I was there and clicked on where the things used to be, but that didn’t work, either. I just had to restore an earlier game and repeat those parts. The beta testers overlooked a major point. Other than that, though, the game played flawlessly, in a DOS window using Windows 98.

The graphics are high-quality … if the game had been released four or five years earlier than it was. For a 1997 game, they were substandard. The pixels were biggish, the animations were sparse, and the hotspots did not match up in some instances with the items’ location onscreen, making it damn near impossible to find these items. (This is one game where you will definitely need to get some hints because of that nasty little factor.)

The music is in annoying short loops, but in this game, it fades out about 20 seconds after you arrive at each location. However, you do visit each location several hundred times over the course of the game, so it definitely becomes an irritant. The voice acting is passable, and the sound effects are actually quite good.

The humor is just plain lame for the most part—Bud Tucker’s name is the best joke in the game. And you know how quite a few games are programmed to insult you when you do something wrong?  Bud Tucker does that, too, but he always called me “dude” or “guy” or “[insert your own synonym for male],” and that really started to bug me after a while. And the insults aren’t cute or clever, they are just, well, insulting, not to mention repetitive—Bud’s repertoire consists of about seven different slurs to cover 2,000 mistakes that a player will make.

“So,” I can hear you saying, “lame dialogue, hackneyed gameplay, sexism in the insults, subpar graphics—this game must really suck.” Well, surprisingly enough, it isn’t that bad. I’m hard put to think of one specific good thing to say about it, but it definitely had some measure of that all-important intangible—the fun factor. Actually, now that I have thought about it for a second, here are some really good points: no mazes, no timed sequences, no sliding tile puzzles. Absence of those three things makes a game worthy in and of itself. I am not sorry I played Bud Tucker.  But I am glad I played a borrowed copy and didn’t pay big money or trade away something good for it. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Merit Studios Publisher: Topware Release Date: 1997

Available for: DOS

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

 Click to enlarge   Click to enlarge   Click to enlarge   Click to enlarge   Click to enlarge Click to enlarge

System Requirements

486/33 8 MB RAM 2x CD-ROM DOS 5.x Sound card

Where to Find It

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

Pages

Top

Category Archives

Top

Blog Posts

Top

14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.