Bill's Tomato Game


Title           Bill's Tomato Game
Game Type       Puzzle
Publisher       Psygnosis
Players         1
Compatibility   OCS/AGA
HD Installable  Via JST patch, doesn't seem to work with 060
Submission      Glen Lambert

Review
Packed in a tomato tray in the back of a van heading for a market and then
someone's dinner plate is our hero whose name escapes me. I shall refer to
him as Mr. Tomato. With him, as ever, is his love interest, Miss Tomato. As
luck would have it the van hits a bump and our tomato couple bounce out of
the tray and out the back of the truck.

Celebrating their newfound freedom, they bounce away to the forest,
y'know, as most tomatoes do at that time of year. However, only seconds
after reaching the forest a nasty mean squirrel grabs Miss Tomato and runs
off up the nearest tree. Glum faced, our hero, Mr. Tomato, must rescue her
or forget his dreams of marriage.

To put it simply Mr. Tomato starts each level/puzzle/screen sitting on a
spring loaded platform, releasing the spring shoots him up into the air
and, conforming to the laws of physics, down he'll fall, back on to the
platform. This counts as one attempt. You are allowed a limited number
though this isn't a problem, I rarely ran out. What you have to do is
select objects from a variable list to place about the screen to bounce
Mr. Tomato to the exit. The most significant of these objects is the fan.
Placing fans behind Mr. Tomato blows him forwards, placing trampolines in
his downward path will ensure he continues to bounce across the screen. If
he comes to a stop before the exit then he's back on the platform and you
have to try again. Thankfully any items placed on the screen will remain
there. It may sound repetitive but the puzzles should vary enough to keep
you interested.

As with Lemmings the game is made tricky by limiting the objects available
or in some cases, confusing you by giving you far more than you need. The
puzzles get progressively more difficult but the learning curve is very
gentle. The game consists of 100 levels and I have completed it two or
three times without cheating, which means it's easier than Lemmings which I
found got too difficult and too frustrating to be any fun after about 80
levels. No save game option but level codes mean you don't have to
re-invent the wheel each time you play.

Gameplay is excellent, mouse control works fine it's easy to place & move
objects Mr. Tomato moves about smoothly and so do all the enemy sprites in
the game. The graphics are excellent and very cute and the sound too is
very nice with some cute but heartbreaking sound effects of Mr. Tomato
splattering on the floor after a hefty fall, due to the irresponsible
placement of a trampoline. Cute tunes play throughout the game on each
level, similar again to the Lemmings tunes and just as catchy.

As I've indicated, the game has a lot in common with Lemmings; the
main difference being that I stuck with Bill's solid until I finished it,
and loved the game the whole time, Lemmings I felt was quite unfair with
far too much reliance on moving the mouse about very quickly in later
levels.

A puzzle should rely on your own powers of logical thought and your
problem solving ability not the quality of your mouse. This is where Bill's
Tomato Game succeeds for me and where Lemmings failed.

8.5/10 - A truly excellent example of a puzzle game. It takes the likes of
Tetris (Not the numerous Amiga versions however) to cast a shadow over
Bill's Tomato Game.




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