BOH

By: Derek Yu

On: July 15th, 2009

BOH

BOH (an Italian phrase roughly translating to “I have no idea”) is a new top-down shooter by Simone Bevilacqua that was originally released for the Amiga but has since been ported to the PC and Mac. The goal of the game is to progress through missions made up of a number of smaller levels, or phases. At the end of each phase is an Evil Master that must be summoned and destroyed to open the exit.

BOH employs real-time lighting, line of sight, and tight passageways to create a claustrophobic atmosphere and monsters appear constantly from off-screen, forcing you to keep moving – oftentimes the best course of action is to simply run away from monsters or run into them and take some damage to destroy them with your shield. It’s a challenging game, too. The demo includes a mission called “Tougher and Tougher” that reveals instant-kill sinkholes and traps that can get you stuck, forcing you to quit the mission and start over from phase 1 (there’s no saving in the middle of a mission). It also took me a while to realize that keys can be used between phases – make sure you fully explore each phase before you move on to the next, because there’s no turning back. The full game has 30 missions, but more missions can be created using a text editor.

This is definitely a polished product all the way around, and very faithful to its old school roots. The ability to create your own levels and skin the game (right down to the menus) is also welcome. The full game is 10 euros ($14) for a downloadable ISO or 12.50 euros ($17) for a boxed CD that includes the ISO, the game on all three platforms (it apparently also runs fine under WINE), plus an instruction manual.

Thanks to Eclipse for the heads-up.

  • falsion

    The combat in this game reminds me of Ys. And that’s a good thing. We need more games where you can kill enemies by simply running into them.

  • http://www.indievault.it Levin

    It’s a really hard game (I can’t finish the ‘medium’ levels) but it’s incredibly polished. Kudos, Simone! :D

  • http://0xdeadc0de.org Eclipse

    I’m having great time playing that, and i LOVE the Castle theme that makes it looks like a fantasy dungeon crawler :)

  • AClarkFS

    Thumbs up for this developer, the custom options and polish are always a big plus.

  • creath

    I can’t for the life of me get the character to respond. I can strafe, fire and turn, but I have to tap repeatedly up or down in order to move forward or backward, and only then my guy moves in half-steps.
    Very strange! Tried changing keys, will try to hunt down a joypad next, but very strange indeed.

  • http://www.bohthegame.com saimo

    Hi everybody,

    this is the sick mind behind the game. Here are a few quick comments…

    Derek Yu: thanks for this news item!
    Please let me clarify a couple of things: missions can be of any number of phases; the cost of the downloadable ISO image is EUR 10 (about USD 14); also new themes can be made by users (there’s a developer’s manual that explains how to create missions and themes).

    falsion: I don’t know Ys, but of course it could well be that there are similarities ;)

    Levin: as rightly noted in the news item, the key is to fight enemies only if strictly needed ;)

    Eclipse: thanks a lot for the heads-up! I’m glad you’re enjoying my beloved product :)

  • Ciro Continisio

    This game has a lot of polish, and this is uncommon for retro styled games.. Even the manual is good.
    Plus, it’s challenging which is never a bad thing.

  • Ciro Continisio

    Ah and there’s this lovely editor… you can create levels only with the Windows Notepad. Incredible!

  • Derek

    Oops, sorry about that, Simone! I’ve made the changes to the post.

  • http://www.bohthegame.com saimo

    Ciro: thanks :)

    Derek: no problem, and thanks for the fix ;)
    BTW: previously I forgot to mention also this: “[…]been ported to the PC and Windows […]” – I guess you meant “MacOS and Windows”?

  • creath

    Wh.. hey, no response for the guy who can’t get the game to work?

  • http://www.bohthegame.com saimo

    AClarkFS: thanks!

    creath: sorry, but your first post (like AClarkFS’) seems to have appeared only now :o
    As regards your problem, that’s very, very strange and the first time ever I hear anything like that. It sounds like the game gets a key release right after the press. I use libSDL as abstraction layer, so the problem is either with your keyboard or your OS (which one, by the way?) or libSDL. I’m afraid I can’t help much there.
    But, yes, a joypad should help.

  • http://www.bohthegame.com saimo

    creath: ah, by looking at the time passed after the original post, our posts must have been made at the same time, but since mine arrived later, your passed unnoticed. Sorry again.
    Speaking of the problem: do you have a spare keyboard to try? Are you trying it under WINE, perhaps?

  • Nektonico

    Ah! Mr Langdell, isnt he the guy who single handedly developed Mirrors Edge?¿ … … In any case, please go away now Mr Swindler, your ninja lawyer goons do not scare me

  • Nektonico

    Wrong window, dammit

  • nullerator

    Looking good, I ordered the game today (haven’t tried installing it yet, I’ll just wait for the CD probably). Will the Amiga version work on UAE? Haven’t played a new Amiga game years…

    BTW, I noticed you’re working on a C64-game as well – awesome! You should consider contacting the Psytronik guys (www.psytronik.com), they publish new C64 with high-quality packaging. I just got a game from them today. :-)

  • saimo

    nullerator, thanks for your order!
    Since I can’t guess your real name, let me ask: did you receive a reply? If you have paid, have you received the payment confirmation and the ISO image download link?

    As regards UAE: no, it won’t run on “classic” Amiga systems. The game is for AmigaOS 4, which is the current generation of AmigaOS, which runs on PPC machines.

    Regarding the C64 game: thanks for the hint, but the game isn’t good enough for a commercial release. It’s a funny game made mostly to share a laugh with friends (it’s a long story…) and I plan to release it as freeware. It’s 90% complete, but I have no idea of when I’ll be able to finish it :/

  • saimo

    Forgot to mention: I know Psytronik: respect to them!!!

  • creath

    Hello,

    I tried it with a joypad and it played fine. Very enjoyable! Something is probably wrong with my keyboard.

  • nullerator

    saimo: ah, OS4. Should have seen that. Well, great for those who’ve stuck with the system :) Anyway, yes, I got the ISO image, but I haven’t tried using it yet. I don’t have the software required. Not a problem to install, but I think I’ll just wait for the disc.

  • saimo

    creath: nice to hear you can enjoy it :)

    nullerator: which software are you missing, if I may ask? Installing from the ISO will save you the extra work of installing the updates and expansions.

  • nullerator

    Ok, it turns out I have ISO-software installed on the system after all (I just forgot, I’ve had this Windows-installation for three years now, and I almost never use ISO-images). So I’m good. I’ll try the game later, and I know an OS4-owning friend who I’ll mention it to. :)

  • saimo

    Have fun!
    And thanks for the promotion ;)

  • nullerator

    Thanks, played it yesterday. Like it so far (though I got stuck on the second level I tried… typical me). Right now I’m addicted to Trine, so that’s taking all my gaming time. But anyway, seems good, looking forward to playing more.

  • saimo

    I’m glad you’re liking it.
    If that is the mission called “1. passages”, the only thing you did wrong was to give up ;)
    Alternatively, the manual is your friend…