Bolo (computer game)
| Bolo | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Various |
| Publisher(s) | Various |
| Platform(s) | BBC Micro, Mac OS, Mac OS X, Linux, Windows |
| Release | 1987 |
| Genre(s) | Tactical shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
Bolo is a video game created for the BBC Micro computer by Stuart Cheshire in 1987, and later ported to the Macintosh in its most popular incarnation. It is a networked multiplayer game that simulates a tank battlefield. It was one of the earliest simultaneous multiplayer networked games.
A similarly named tank game was created for the Apple II in 1982. Cheshire says this was "an unfortunate coincidence", and that his Indian wife inspired the name. As Cheshire noted in his original documentation for the game, "Bolo is the Hindi word for communication. Bolo is about computers communicating on the network, and more important about humans communicating with each other, as they argue, negotiate, form alliances, agree strategies, etc."
In Bolo, the player commands a tank that can be driven around a battlefield within an orthogonal, top-down view. This gives the visual impression that the battlefield is being viewed from above with the player's tank being controlled remotely. The tank is relatively well armored and will take a number of "hits" before being destroyed. Tanks can also be destroyed by driving them into deep sea.
The tank's primary weapon is its cannon, which fires only in the direction the tank is pointed and has a fairly fast rate of fire. The tank also carries mines as a secondary weapon, which can be dropped on the move, or planted by an engineer who runs from the tank and "drills" the mine into the ground. In games where the "Hidden Mines" setting is activated, such mines are invisible to other players until they drive quite close to them (often too close to stop in time). Hidden mines remain visible to the player who planted them, and to other members of his team.
Ammunition, both for the cannon and mines, can be refilled at a limited number of supply bases scattered around the map. The bases also repair damage to tanks, but this depletes the "armor" of the base. Bases' supplies of ammunition and armor refill slowly.
The strategic goal of the game is to capture all of the bases on the map. Unclaimed "neutral" bases may be claimed by simply driving one's tank over them, after which the player and his/her team may draw upon such "friendly" bases' resources. "Hostile" bases can be captured by shooting them until their armor supply is reduced to zero, after which any player may drive over them to claim them for one's own team. Bases that have recently re-armored damaged tanks are more easily seized since their armor supplies take some time to regenerate.
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