If there’s something that the British truly love, it’s got to be their breakfast time. That’s probably how Bristol based indie team of Nick Dymond and Ashley Gwinnell came up with the idea of this retro themed arcade shooting game with an unlikely hero-a toaster!
Terry is the hyperactive toaster hero tasked with the job of saving breakfast time, a.k.a a clock! Alien breakfast-hating beasties are out to eliminate breakfast time, and reliable old Terry has to shoot toast, crumpets, baguettes, bagels and a host of other breakfast items on the incoming beasties to knock them before they reach the clock.
Its Breakfast Time!
The game features 45 levels of shoot’em up action in 5 different worlds and in each level players must shoot at just about everything in sight, including falling crates. Luckily, the falling crates are a blessing in disguise because they carry more breakfasty items that will power up the toaster. At the start of the game Terry only pops out toasts but if you manage to knock off crates you can unlock more bonus breakfast items. So every time you knock off a crate, you pick up a special power.
Hitting enemies consecutively will give you combo points and the more combos you pick up the better your chances of playing Coffee time, a phase where the game gets faster and the weapons last much longer. Each game lasts between 30 to 50 seconds, but you’ll be spending much much longer than that to get through each level. If you’re really awesome at flinging breakfast items, you’ll pick up three stars, but it’s a frustratingly tough one to achieve.
Toasting Troubles
The trouble with grabbing three stars lies in the game’s intricate design. I think having a set of compound eyes will help, but alas that’s out of the question. There’s too much happening on the screen at the same time to really enjoy game play. You have to keep an eye on the clock, the incoming beasties as well as Terry. Terry has this nasty habit of flying off on all directions when you shoot items from him and if you’re not in the right place at the right time, in just a fraction of a second, you’ll find that its game over.
Most times, you’ll have a hard time assimilating what’s happening on the screen. There will be enemies flowing thick and fast from all corners and you’ll have absolutely no control over the toaster to add to it. One minute he will be shooting toasties from the top of the screen, and the next minute, he’ll be helplessly stuck between pixelated barriers on the floor. You will often find yourself shooting randomly in the hope that your thirty plus seconds will be up soon. And you won’t feel particularly well rewarded when you get past a level playing like that.
As the game progresses, things get more difficult. Since the next level doesn’t bring anything refreshingly new, after a point of time, it gets a little boring, not to mention frustrating to continue playing.
The Extras
Other interesting aspects of Toast Time include cool retro customization for your toaster. You can thrown in a headband, switch between a happy and sad face or even add a Bo Staff to dress up Terry, but honestly it won’t matter when you’re having a hard time keeping track of that damn bouncer!
There are also additional challenges to keep you going. Interested in cracking a level without firing any bread, or playing for a whole 21122.012 seconds for some fancy trophies? How about attempting to defend breakfast time in one single attempt by playing the Survival mode? If you enjoy Toast Time well enough, you can take these extras on.
You Are Toast!
Toast Time may have a good soundtrack, some cool pixelated backgrounds and even some frantic shooting action, but much of the fun gets diluted with the intricate controls. With time running short, its hard to sit back and enjoy shooting down enemies, and you just want to put down the game after sitting on a level for far too long.
You may enjoy toast time for a special price of $1.99 but this one’s not my cup of tea.
