According to Force of Habit, the developers behind Toast Time, the game is "a throwback to the golden age of video games where old-school homebrew titles fused arcade action with a distinctly British sense of humor".
Well, I'm definitely not from that era, but I trust their description, I mean, you have to trust someone who creates a game that revolves around a toast named TERRY (toast-ejecting recoil & reload system) that uses toasts as ammunition to kill toast looking enemies (not really but I had to go with the flow).
This title has been in development for a year now and it certainly shows, everything is extremely polished, from the gameboy looking graphics, to the music that sounds like it was composed for a very advanced Atari 2600.
The gameplay is also spot-on, super simple, yet, super challenging at the same time. It was clearly designed for touch screens, it kinda works like a twin stick shooter that only has one stick, it's a "single stick" shooter I guess, even though you don't actually have a joystick (it's mind blowing I know).
You basically touch the screen in the direction you want your super toast to fire the other little toasts, keep in mind though that TERRY will move in the opposite direction to the one you're firing, it's a weird concept but at the same time extremely fun and addictive, the more you play the more natural it becomes.
Toast Time is not very long in terms of actual length ("45 action packed missions"), but it certainly compensates for that with a very high difficulty once you start reaching the later levels.
As you move along the stages you will pick-up power ups (boxes), kinda like in more traditional shmups they will mostly be different types of bread based weapons, these weapons have to be unlocked, to do that you have to pick up as many boxes as you can in each mission, if you picture the boxes as experience points it works like any normal rpg leveling up system. You will also unlock several new outfits to make your TERRY look even more like a boss.
I have to admit that the vision of a toast wearing a monocle and a Rambo headband is something I'll never forget.
One of the more original and stronger aspects of Toast Time is the visuals, finally a game developer that realizes retro is more than the 8-bit era. The monochrome graphics with colored backgrounds are really in-tune with the game's quirky sense of humor and art style.
The music is also pretty good, taking inspiration from the Atari 2600 era, it evolves the simple "bips and bops" into something really pleasant to be heard.
I simply cannot recommend this game enough, it is a truly unique experience that deserves to succeed in the crowded Android gaming market, the price that the devs from Force of Habit are asking is pretty low (1.99£-2.99$-2.29€), trust me, it doesn't get much better than this.
Quick-Note: In the first week after the game launch a discount will be available, even more awesomeness for you!
Year of Release: 2013
Platform(s): Android
Developer(s): Force of Habit
Thanks to Force of Habit for providing the review copy
0 comments :
Post a Comment