• Platform: Commodore 64/128
• Release Date: 1985
• Similar Games: Super Mario Bros. 3 (Nintendo Entertainment System)

Game Description

A Fistful of Bucks is a loose adaptation of the 1967 movie A Fistful of Dollars starring Clint Eastwood. As the The Man with No Name, players shoot their way through a desert full of hostiles with two gameplay modes. The first mode, and the one players start in, is an overhead shooter where players traverse a desert terrain while avoiding cowboys and Indians. Players have a limited number of lives, but the cowboys and Indians are unlimited and continually re-spawn. Players also have a limited number of bullets, and to replenish their ammo, must enter one of the buildings scattered across the terrain to find a platform level where players press the button to jump. Each of the platform levels contain bullet reloads and bags of money, more cowboys and Indians, falling leaves, birds, and acid. Jump, run, and climb through the levels while avoiding the hazards to get all the items. Built like puzzles, the platform levels have routes and solutions that are not obvious, and players need to experiment before finding a way to complete the level. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Roots & Influences

This game is based on A Fistful of Dollars, the classic 1967 western movie starring Clint Eastwood. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Review: Enjoyment

Horrible controller responsiveness saps the game of fun, making it frustrating. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Production Credits

Created by: Ian Gray, Lee Braine

Music by: Chris Cox ~ Jonathan Sutyak, All Game Guide

Review: Overall

A Fistful of Bucks tries to combine overhead view and platform styles of gameplay. It could have worked, except action games require good controller response, and the A Fistful of Bucks' controllers aren't responsive at all.

The game's graphics are sparse and desolate, fitting in with the western desert setting quite well, but as far as visual effect goes, it's quite dull. During the overhead portion of the game, there are very few colors on-screen at any one time, and what's there isn't effectively, with nothing to look at in the landscape aside from the mountains, fences, and occasional cacti.

From time to time, you'll come across buildings you can enter, but most of them seem to be stock images used repeatedly in other places of the game. The only way you can tell these places apart is by their relative distances and directions from the game's starting point. Enter one of these buildings and you'll encounter a different and equally dreary world. The platform levels have no background at all, with simple graphics for objects like trees, tents, and buildings. In both gameplay modes the characters are so simply drawn they appear little better than stick figures, except bigger in the platform levels.

The music on the other hand is quite good. One primary theme fits in with the western setting and is enjoyable, played in different tones and with different embellishments throughout to keep it interesting. If you like the musical genre, you'll find the game's theme to be quite catchy.

Despite the graphics problems, the thing that kills A Fistful of Bucks is its horrible responsiveness to controller input. In action games, the game needs to interpret and execute input quickly and effectively so you can evade traps, enemies, and the other nasty things, but this game is very sluggish in its response. You'll die frequently because the game can't keep up with your controller input. It seems as if the game's developers knew this and took it into account because when you first play A Fistful of Bucks you'll notice that you start the game with a large stack of extra lives, instead of the usual two extra lives that most games of the genre give you.

Overall, A Fistful of Bucks offers an interesting design idea by putting side view platform levels inside an overhead view action map, but the poor controller responsiveness keeps it from being enjoyable. While the game may be an interesting example to other developers trying to make multi-genre games, it's not something you'd want to play for entertainment. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Review: Graphics

Sparse, boring graphics with no effective use of coloring. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Review: Sound

There's one main theme, played in several different ways with lots of embellishments, which you won't notice unless you're actively paying attention. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Review: Replay Value

Thanks to map arrangement, you can tackle the platform levels in any order. Unfortunately, since the game isn't fun, there's little reason to keep playing. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

Review: Documentation

Average documentation explains the basics of gameplay. ~ Kyle Knight, All Game Guide

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