B.C.'s Quest for Tires is a horizontally scrolling video game designed by Rick Banks and Michael Bate and published by Sierra On-Line in 1983.[1] Versions were released for the Commodore 64, IBM PC, Atari 8-bit computers, ColecoVision, ZX Spectrum, MSX, and Apple II. Based on the comic stripB.C.byJohnny Hart, BC's Quest for Tires is similar to Irem's Moon Patrol from the previous year.[2] A wheel-riding caveman is always moving forward through horizontally scrolling levels, and the player jumps or ducks as obstacles approach. The game's title is a play on the contemporaneous film Quest for Fire.
Both B.C.'s Quest for Tires and Moon Patrol have key elements of the not-yet-invented endless runner genre, despite both games being divided into discrete levels.[3]
The player takes the role of the caveman Thor, who has to rescue his girlfriend, "Cute Chick", who has been kidnapped by a dinosaur. To do this, he must travel on his stoneunicycle (actually an impossible wheel) through several levels. Each level has Thor moving from the left to the right, avoiding various dangers.
B.C.'s Quest for Tires is an action game taking place on several consecutive levels. Each level consists of Thor having to jump over obstacles such as rocks or stalagmites and ducking under others, like tree branches or stalactites. In between each level is a brief challenge (a precursor to boss battles in later games). The first challenge has Thor jumping on turtles to cross a lake while trying to avoid being hit by the Fat Broad, another has Thor lining up with the Dookie Bird to catch a ride over a lava pit, another challenge has Thor trying to gain enough speed to jump another pit, and the final challenge has Thor jumping on turtles to cross another lake while trying to sneak past the dinosaur. [4][5]
Softline stated that, given the conventional gameplay ("it's that get-from-point-A-to-point-B kind of game"), the use of the familiar comic characters made "the player feel like finishing the game is worthwhile ... [Otherwise] it's just not the same". The magazine concluded that "B.C.'s Quest for Tires isn't so much a computer game as it is an interactive cartoon. This cartoon has its limits, but it does provide some challenge".[6]Antic approved of the game not being another "'shoot the aliens and save the world' scenario", and the "first rate" animation, but predicted that most players would "enjoy the game for a day or two, then relegate it to the shelf".[2]Compute! praised the game's "excellent graphics" and animation, which "approach cartoon standards".[7]
David Stone reviewed the game for Computer Gaming World, and stated that "QFT requires far more timing than strategy and, rather than levels of play, it offers new obstacles to overcome on the way to the rescue. Still, it is fun to play."[8]
