Busy Bar

-Ozura (2005)

Summary

How many days will it take for a busty blonde bartender to get fired and have all her dreams washed away?

My Thoughts

The old game Tapper had you franticly moving between four bars to serve angry drunkards. If the beer mongers became too much to much to handle they overran the bar. Well, Midway had to ruin it and make a politically correct kid friendly version and rename it Root Beer Tapper. Busy Bar is very similar to Tapper, but better because it features a blonde waitress with a huge jugs... of beer, that is.

It’s good to see that Ozura didn’t go the kid friendly route with this one. The beer is beer. Instead of actually serving customers like Tapper, waitress Betty must grab all the drinks that the bartender slides down the four bars. She only has one tray but is somehow able to grab and hold onto each and every mug of frothy brew. What a talented girl this Betty is.

Once during each stage, while she is busy grabbing all the beers she can, an underage kid sneaks into the bar and tries to steal a mug for himself. At the end of the stage he comes back with the empty mug. Most likely he’s drunk because he tries to throw empty mugs at Betty. If Betty can avoid being hit she is awarded with an extra life, meaning she can let one more mug crash to the floor. If she runs out of “lives” she is fired and cries her little eyes out. Poor Betty won’t be able to go to college now. As you advance through the game the rotund bartender slides beers more frequently and at a quickening pace.

Busy Bar has good visuals with the characters cartoony and big headed. What hurts this game is the gameplay since all you do is collect beer after beer and once in a while throw a mug. There really isn't much to it with its move up and down gameplay and there is no game save feature if you become an unstoppable master mug collector. You start the game over every time you play. If you’re not into the collect-things-at-a-fast-pace type of game, this would get pretty boring after awhile. It's an alright for a quick diversion, but nothing you want to spend loads of time on. If you were a fan of Tapper, though, it may be worth trying.

Score: 5.0

-Shawn       

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