ZX Computing


Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes

Publisher: Global
Machine: Spectrum 48K

 
Published in ZX Computing #25

Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes

I have the strangest feeling that I've seen this game somewhere before. That's probably because Killer Tomatoes is the latest in the increasingly long line of Knight Lore clones. Knight Lore's 3D graphics were something special when that game was first released, but over the last six months or so there have been more and more games all built around that once unique style of graphics, and the novelty's starting to wear off.

Killer Tomatoes casts you in the role of Wimp Plasbott, proprietor of a pizza restaurant that's in danger of closing down through lack of tomato sauce. So Wimp sets off to tackle the killer tomatoes and stock up on sauce before time runs out on him.

The factory that Wimp has to make his way through is full of the now familiar sorts of obstacles, though in this case most of the deadly objects are tomatoes of one sort of another. There are the bouncing tomatoes that have to be collected and carted off to the machine that turns them into sauce, and the tomatoes on legs that have to be subdued by finding the hammer hidden in the factory somewhere. Also scattered throughout the factory are a number of objects that can be carried and used to help you get through some of the rooms, though it seemed to me that some of the traps are impossible to get out of unless you've got just the right things with you.

The time limit is controlled by a clock which counts down as the game progresses. Wimp starts at 9.30 in the morning and has until 5.30 in the afternoon to complete his task. The clock counts down in real time, though there are time penalties of ten minutes whenever you hit some of the tomatoes.

Killer Tomatoes is quite a complex, and very professionally produced game, that should keep you occupied for quite a while, but its similarity to all the other Knight Lore-inspired titles left me feeling that it didn't really offer anything I hadn't seen before.