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Sunday, 31 May 2015

TEQUILA & BOOM BOOM


Before starting this site, there were few adventure games that I hadn't at least heard of before. It's a genre that's very dear to my heart so it was a great surprise to find Tequila & Boom Boom whilst browsing the web.

There is very little information about it online, which is surprising considering it's very high production values. What little I did find was that it was developed by Dynabyte of Big Red Adventure fame and released only in Italy. The game I played is fully in the English language so it's possible that a small UK or US release was planned, but later cancelled.

Take one look at any screenshot and you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a Don Bluth animated movie. The graphics are spectacular with lengthy cut-scenes. The animation is smooth, but they do repeat often. Perhaps as a budgetary constraint or as a means to reduce time sent in the translation, the dialogue scenes are animated in short cartoon loops. It can distract from the overall presentation and it does draw attention to the unimaginative script and often bland voice acting, but I doubt many players will mind too much.

You begin as a lone bobcat named Tequila entering a small wild west town named Stinky Town, a once prosperous site that was betrayed by the false promise of gold in the nearby mountains. The first place you'll visit is the saloon occupied by a poker-playing gang. This is where shit will go down! Seriously, you've been playing the game for five minutes and you'll be the instigator of a deadly fight between two ne'er-do-well gamblers.

It transpires that Tequila is not a man of the law like his cowboy swagger may suggest, but an outlaw rogue. Thankfully he's the lovable kind. So lovable that the sheriff of this place is an old friend. If you're wondering who the Boom Boom of the title is, I can tell you it's not any dubious act he gets up to on the first floor of the saloon. Boom Boom is an old canine partner in crime who refuses to leave the stench of Stinky Town as he stubbornly believes that there's gold in them there hills.

There's not much of a story overall, just a collection of gorgeous looking connected scenes. It plays well for it's intended target audience of primary school children (5-11), but there's little more in this respect for discerning adults. The puzzles are fairly simple too, with the only real difficulty coming in the odd pixel hunts and unexpected QTE's. What kept me playing was the stunning way it looks.

Dynabyte have certainly come on since their previous game, Big Red Adventure, was released. Tequila and Boom Boom is an improvement in practically every respect. It's even a lot easier to install (Big Red Adventure was notorious for this). The areas are designed for their cinematic feel, often changing the camera and using close ups where needed and it certainly adds an immersive cinematic feel. It's a technique usually reserved for movies and one that not even the classic The Curse of Monkey Island used to this level, though it is ultimately the better game. If you enjoy point & click adventure games, this is definitely one to play.


To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses DOSBox to bring the game to modern systems. Tested on Windows 10.
  14.03.2019 - Ver.2 -  Changed fullscreen resolution to suit all desktops. Fixed save issue.

File Size: 233 Mb.  Install Size: 596 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download


Tequila & Boom Boom is © Dynabyte
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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13 comments:

  1. It seems to have had a small release in Australia too, as my uncle bought this from an Australian video game store for me as a child.

    Thanks for your lovely site :)

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  2. I've seen ads of it's reprint back then.

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  3. Huh.

    The 3 Skulls of the Toltecs image links to Bureau 13.

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  4. Unfortunately I keep getting an error "Unknown zone type" in several instances near the end of the game. Is there any way around that?

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  5. Same "Unknown zone type" for me. :(
    We are not only ones and I don't think its Biffman's version's problem. Even if collectionchamber version is used on this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fajh5oQctJ8 (I get the error even before that spot), people are having same problem with Spanish ver: http://www.abandonsocios.org/index.php?topic=8861.0

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    Replies
    1. I'm going to look into this when I have the time. I don't recall any issues and I think I got to the end but it was a while ago now.

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  6. Does anyone know how to combine objects? When I get to boom boom after I shared beans he falls asleep. I try selecting the chloroform and have no idea how to drag it to the cotton. Please help. Dan

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  7. Don't bother. English version of the game is so buggy it can't be finished. I so wanted to like this game but there are gamebreaking bugs.

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  8. And it's not collection chamber version's fault but dos English version. Thats why there are not many walkthroughs. Anyway, you may check out that: https://superadventuresingaming.blogspot.com/2013/08/tequila-boom-boom-ms-dos.html

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  9. I almost did a double take at the developer's name, there used to be a computer store chain in the Netherlands called Dynabyte. But I don't think they're related in any way.

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  10. Dynabyte was an Italian software house indeed. This is their third adventure, after Nippon Safes and The Big Red Adventure. This game was also funded by Italian government, via Sacis. But ... After a change of prime minister, sacis was closed and the game released half baked in Italian (and bugged in English).

    If you want to know more, this Italian link could be useful https://www.ataritecapodcast.it/immagina-un-mondo-migliore-la-storia-di-dynabyte/

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  11. Also, Damiano Gerli's The Genesis Temple told the story of Dynabyte and this game specifically https://genesistemple.com/the-big-italian-adventure-the-history-of-dynabyte-software

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