Your Sinclair


Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Author: Rachael Smith
Publisher: Global
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in Your Sinclair #6

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

At last a game that reveals the true danger of tomatoes. Yes, tomatoes, I say. And you thought they were virginal little vegetables, didn't you? Well, they're not! They're rampaging fruits and this proves it. Ever wondered about the colour of those red skins, eh? Oh, the Kremlin's certainly behind this one.

The hero, Wimp Plasbot, employee of the Puritron Processing Factory, has only eight and a half hours before the menace can ketch-up with him. This booby works from nine till five (thirty - sorry, Sheena) and attempts to rid the plant of plants. Can pure-hearted Plasbot purée the peril in this pulp pandemonium? Only you can decide.

Looking like an Ultimate offering - doesn't everything nowadays? - though without quite the polish, this extremely silly offering is more in the style of Sweevo's World - though it also lacks the lunatic logic of that game. The red menace takes various forms. Easiest are the little bouncing tommies (even sounds like commies, huh?) which can be stunned with a lotta bottle - there's enough power to nix seven of them before you need to seek a recharge. Bang into one then pick it up and carry it to the press before the purée bottle at the bottom of the screen empties, otherwise time will fly forward by half an hour.

Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes

The walking killer tomatoes pose more of a problem, because contact means instant demise for all you Wimps out there. You'll need to stun them during their perambutations but I can't tell you how - just remember the Beatles Max and all will go well. With the killer tom reeling you can now push him into a hole, but beware - if he comes to, it's back to the start for you.

The third type of tomato is big and static so it shouldn't prove too much of a menace providing you can master the controls which are of the rotate and walk forward variety.

If this all sounds like too much for one day, then it is. However, finding time cards will give you what every boss has always wanted - longer working hours. You'll have to take the punch card to a time clock and these may be a bit difficult to find - most of them look like two blocks in the centre of a room.

The colonization of the Processing Factory is well under way and you'll find walls of tomatoes that have to be hurdled and some carefully judged leaps are needed if you're to suck-seeds from the pulpy peril. That said it's probably a simpler game to get to grips with than many of the Ultimate type, being rather less cryptic. Fun though, and in converting the film nominated Worst Vegetable Movie of all time Global has created a tie-in far better than the original deserved - and far better than many superior films have received!

Rachael Smith

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