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Lights, camera, action! Roll 'em! Take a trip back to
the roaring twenties, the Charleston and the first movies.
Ah, those early films -- the excitement of the chase,
the hilarity of the custard pie battles and the robust
tunes that were pounded out on the keyboards below the
screen. Hollywood or Bust attempts to capture
the flavour of the twenties in a madcap arcade adventure.
You play the floundering Buster Baloney, desperate to
make his way into the movies. Having walked on set,
it's his task to find five Golden Oscars which he can
take home and place, with due care and attention, on
his mantelpiece.
As
play begins, the screen is split between a playing area
at the top and a neat animated status window below.
In the latter, the director waits pensively for the
action to begin. Action! Buster stands on a street,
which scrolls left and right according to his movements,
and then begins his search for the Oscars. Buster's
life is not as simple as just pottering around a film
set. For one thing, he's plagued by crazy Kops (a la
Keystone) in full chase. The only way to combat them
is to throw a custard pie in their direction. This will
stun them for a moment and while they spin dizzily around,
it gives Buster a chance to escape up one of the ladders
onto another floor.
The
set is also inhabited by ghosts and contact with them
is fatal. However, they can only attack from behind
so as long as Buster is up against a wall he'll be safe.
Points are awarded for the amount of time Buster remains
on set without being clobbered. There is also a window
showing Buster's pay, which shoots up at a remarkable
rate for every piece of film that is taken. The set
is littered with doors and passages -- some lead inside
the film set while others take Buster into the street
scene.
From
a small playing area, the action switches to a full
screen, viewed from above, plunging Buster into the
middle of a Keystone Kops custard pin shoot-out. Before
Buster can return to the set, he must wait until 1000
shots have been taken; meantime, he must survive as
best he can. Once more, he must use custard pies to
defend himself from the Kops who will clobber him if
they collide with him. However, if his supply of pies
runs out before time there's always the tap, situated
at the top right-hand corner, which will let the custard
flow through to an outlet at the bottom left of the
screen. Buster, like most mortals, is only in possession
of one life so if he gets bashed on this screen then
he won't be able to return to the studios and continue
his search for the elusive Oscars.
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