CBS Electronics Blueprint -Atari 5200
Retro Gaming Review

Rating:

Did you ever see Blue Print in an arcade? Me either, but some nominal research indicates that Blue Print for the Atari 5200 is based on an arcade game. Who knew? It was also released for the Atari 2600. I never saw this one in an arcade although Bally Midway gave it a wide release. BluePrint's arcade controls consisted of a joystick and single fire-button (duplicated for left and right) used to make your character run.

It's a nice looking game with vibrant color and seemingly interesting premise - as arcade themes go. I've never been a huge fan of "maze" games and it's not the most exciting game I've ever played on the 5200.

Blue Print's Story Arc

You play as the hero, J.J., who must create a weapon to defeat Ollie Ogre thus saving his girlfriend Daisy. Ollie's been chasing after her. No one expects you to be a weapon's expert so you are provided a blue print for it's design. Ahhh. You have to search houses in each neighborhood (wave or level) to find all the parts and assemble them according to the blue print and save Daisy. Once the contraption is properly assembled, you can defeat Ollie. At least there isn't an ape throwing barrels at you.

Of course finding the parts is only part of the hassle. Among the fiendish foes are Sneaky Pete and Fuzzy Wuzzy (sounds real threatening) who will try to stop you as will bombs that you may mistake as parts of the contraption you're building. There are also some flower pots at the top of the screen that can fall on you and actually chase after you- most unlike ordinary falling flower pots.

Blue Print's Game Play

You start with 5 lives and you will be at the bottom of the first maze which is actually a neighborhood of 10 houses. Entering a house involves maneuvering JJ through the maze to an opening by one of the square houses. If the house contains a part for your contraption, you'll hear a victory sound and get 1,000 points. But it's not enough to just locate the part. JJ must navigate ack through the maze to the blue print at the bottom of the screen and place the part in the correct position.

8 of the 10 houses contain parts. The other 2 have bombs, so choose your houses carefully - yeah, it's random. Keep in mind that visiting a house from which you've already retrieved a part, will greet you with a bomb. You can drop bombs into the bomb Pit to diffuse them. You have to be quick about it as well since Ollie is catching up to Daisy and we doubt he's got a dinner-date planned. As he gets closer you'll hear a distress sound to let you know your girlfriend is seconds away from being Ogre-humped. So get a move on!

The bottom fire button controls speed until your contraption is completed, then it activates it. Each part you find will replenish some of your speed meter. Try to save it for defusing bombs and moving quickly away from foes. It's a limited resource per life and neighborhood.

Blue Print's Foes

Ollie Ogre chasing Daisy in 1983 may have been ambiguous in intent, but in these modern times we have to assume he's a knife-wielding rapist and must be stopped. As he chases Daisy across the top of the screen, he'll knock over flower pots which can end your life. At the bottom of the screen, flower pots will bounce right toward you.

Sneaky Pete is a pain in the ass who lives in the Bomb Pit. Periodically he emerges and tries to push the Start Button before you've amassed all the parts on the blue print. When this happens all the parts on the blue print slide off. You'll have to first snatch up Sneaky Pete and drop him back into the Bomb Pit. Then you can return the pieces to the correct places on the blue print.

Fuzzy Wuzzy appears on Level 3 and is still pissed that Daisy never fancied him as the stud he makes himself out to be. He wanders the neighborhood and will end your life on contact.

Blue Print: Saving Daisy

Having found all the parts and placed them correctly on the blue print, it's time to hit the start button (on the screen) to activate the contraption and take out Ollie. The joystick will now move your weapon/contraption along the bottom of the screen and the bottom fire button will launch basketballs at Ollie. Don't worry about Daisy- your bad aim won't hurt her. Once you hit Ollie, the game goes to the next neighborhood and you'll again be assembling another contraption. You can take as many shots as time permits - else you'll lose a life.

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