"Zot! Fun but not long enough or challenging enough to be a real classic."

Whoever had the idea of converting the cartoon ''B.C.'' into an Apple game had a good idea. Given the overall rough drawings it would work better than Bloom County, which was a superior cartoon. The game isn't terribly faithful to B.C.; B.C. rides a tire(it's actually Thor who does so in the comic strip) and the apteryx, a bird which can't fly, helps B.C. somewhere else. In addition B.C. seems to have lost a lot of hair. In fact, the game name itself is confusing as B.C. pretty much just avoids obstacles(and the fat woman) to get to the (relatively) pretty woman in the comic strip.

B.C.'s obstacles scroll from right to left. He has the option of jumping over them(yes, while on his stone-wheeled unicycle) or ducking under them. He doesn't seem to duck much, but it's enough. He also has the option of speeding himself up or slowing down by using the two buttons on the joystick(moving left and right doesn't cut it.) Although his speed is represented by an integer from 10 to 80 there are only four actual speeds he or, from your view, the obstacles go at. For instance, after he hurries up from 70 to 71 the obstacles come much more quickly at him. You get more points for

There are several parts to each level. First, B.C. must jump over holes and rocks. The holes and rocks are at various distances from each other, meaning that B.C. may jump over one but fall into another. The next part is where B.C. comes to a lake. There are little green knobs that pop up and down in the lake, and B.C. must time his jumps so that his wheel lands on the knobs and he doesn't sink. After safely jumping over five, B.C. is back on solid ground. There's a little more luck than I'd like to this event. The third part attempts to convince you that B.C. is going up a hill, in the fashion of Moon Patrol, but not as convincing(an angled black line cuts through the background.) Here he must avoid rolling rocks and pits with timely jumps. Things can get a bit random here as well. There's not enough time to react to when a pit is far away from the rock and you need to make a long jump over both. There's also bad graphical recognition here as it is possible to touch both the rock and the hole and still survive--it's the far edge of the hole that gets you in trouble(in later levels, the unfairness weighs more in favor of the computer.) After that there's a reprise of the first scene, followed by an orange pool B.C. must jump over at maximum speed, aided by the apteryx. You then have to avoid falling rocks, jump over a green pool(second scene) and duck under the fat woman who swings a club at you. From there you go underground where you must time jumping over stalagmites and ducking stalactites--at some time you aren't expecting it, if you get far enough, B.C. will fly through the cave, hitting a lot of the outcroppings, and his reward will have nothing to do with tires except for his extra ''life.'' Your reward is that you get to do everything with a faster minimum speed.

Some flaws not mentioned in the previous brief paragraph include that, when you finish a scene, your speed is sometimes usually reset to the minimum, except when you get to the caves, when B.C. will tear full speed ahead and you'll probably lose a life by the time you correct things. There's also the question of how B.C. actually rides the wheel and jumps on it, no less--he doesn't appear to have footholds. But that brings us to graphics.

Unlike B.C., the graphics have six whole colors to work from. Not that they're greatly used--the entertaining thing is still that they are roughly drawn. It's funny when B.C. has a talking-bubble that says ''Zot!'' and his wheel bounces away when you lose a life. The other characters are pretty well drawn. Although the perception is not accurate, the game's graphics are pretty nice. The sound is mostly a grinding when you crash B.C.'s wheel, jump, or duck.

B.C. has a whimsical feel to it, and while it's enjoyable the first time through you are probably better off reading its comic strip. The randomness that gets less fair as you progress does not really hurt as you are never drawn into the game. It's a cute little time-waster that meets my requirement of not wasting too much time. Given its repetitiveness and simplicity, it will always be minor, though.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/14/01, Updated 01/14/01