Wow this is not what I was expecting when I fired up Tomato Blaster for the first time, I was expecting a Puzzle Bobble-esque clone where you have to shoot various round food-stuffs. Titles can be very misleading…
Tomato Blaster is an interesting take on the “Sokoban genre” (there are so many similarly tinged games that I think it’s safe to say it’s a genre) by Dan Derham. Although there is a lot more to it than just being another Sokoban game and there is a surprising amount of depth to this title.
With a nice level of polish and an original art design which has a certain amount of charm and works well, it is certainly easy on the eyes. I challenge anyone not to smile when you see the main character. Obviously enough it is a rolling tomato you will be guiding on this head scratching journey, and isn’t he adorable, what with his poof of green “hair”, big round eyes and giant schnoz that he squashes every time he rolls around – but doesn‘t seem to mind at all, what a trooper!
The object of the game, as in most other of these games, is to open the gate and “escape” the level. To do this you must do an assortment of the following in each level: roll boulders out of the way making sure not to block yourself in, open various gates to get to the final gate, teleport, switch switches, go through “one way only” gates, push buttons, blow stuff up, guide your doppelganger of sorts the “Evil Mango” to do your bidding and collect all the coins in the level.
All this while avoiding cannon fire, rubble, spikes, blowing yourself up, getting touched by said “Evil Mango”, and my personal favourite, trapping yourself in one of a myriad of ways and having to start the whole level over again.
Although the trial is short with a capital “come on guys give us a REAL taste of these games“, it was highly enjoyable if a little ridiculously easy, but I have little doubt that the puzzles would get mind-bendingly frustrating in the latter stages of the game and just wish they threw in one of the more thought provoking levels rather than just the first 5 in the game.
My only qualms were the fact there are only 40 levels, and the experienced Sokabaner would probably breeze through in no time, that and the fact there is no easy way to reset the level, a facility that would most likely be used a LOT of times in the harder stages. It seems a bit clumsy having to pause the game and choose restart from the game menu.
For anyone who likes to strain their grey matter at the same time as watching a tomato rolling around blowing stuff up (and who doesn’t?) then 400 points isn’t too much to spend, especially when you consider the endless possibilities of the level editor, which is just as easy to use and powerful as the one in N+, it is almost a bargain, almost.
This title was 400 points at the time of writing this review but has since been reduced to 200 Points.
Other posts you might find interesting:
- The Perfect Match Normally, when writing a review I find myself in...
This game reminds me of Super ZZT.
Am I the only one who remembers Super ZZT?
I’d hazard a guess at no
Tomato Blaster has now been reduced to 200 points.
Okay now it is officially a bargain, great job Dan.
It was worthwhile at 400. People are too cynical about price, IMO.
Personally, considering the amount of effort that goes into a game, I’ve rarely seen anything I would consider worth less than $15, which translates to 1200 Moon Points.
Doesn’t mean I buy everything, obviously I have personal tastes like everyone else.
I dunno, I’m rambling, I’ll stop now.