Attack of the Killer Tomatoes Review

THQ was not known for making games that were very good. I already covered a bit of this in my review of the horrid ‘The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends’. They released a number of strange games based on cartoons and movies, this being one of them. Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was a show I watched pretty regularly, in spite of it’s low popularity. I was excited to check out the video game version. Overall, I was disappointed, but it has its moments.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes has interesting graphics. A few aren’t as polished as others, but in general they all do their job. The range of colors is dark, and fitting with the general atmosphere, with some cool light and shadow effects and some cool, really large, cut scenes. There were a few instances where the programmers did a good job of using the graphics to drive the gameplay. A good example of this is when you see Phantomato of the Opera in the sewer on the side of the screen. As you get closer, he begins to speed up, and then hits into a run and disappears mysteriously off to the right, only reappearing when you face him as the boss. In general the graphics are only average, however. The tomatoes look cool, but there are a lot of indistinct creatures moving about that really don’t make any sense. Hello, tomato worms and tomato bats, what? The final boss is a cool idea but the final moment is nonsensical. What in the world is the thing you’re jumping on at the end to kill it? A purple tree? What? Cool title screen, though.

The sound is as expected. They did a good job of recreating the opening song
from the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes television show, and some of the theme music in the game is very fitting. I enjoyed, in particular, the sewer levels. At other times, though, the music is lacking. Nothing bad, just nothing really memorable. The sound effects are limited too. Some running, jumps, stomps, and that’s about it. Should have stepped it up a bit in this category.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is a platformer title that combines a few puzzle elements. Your hero, Chad, has to go through a few levels to stop Dr. Gangrene from releasing his doomsday tomato device. You start on the streets, move to the sewer, back to the streets, go to the lab, and eventually inside a giant tomato. Chad can jump, stomp, and dash, but that’s it. The only power-ups you collect in the game are a bag worth points and a lunch bag to raise your health or refill. The game combines a few puzzle elements to it, like figuring out how to reverse gravity in the lab in order to access Gangrene’s room, with basic platforming. It has some charm to it when you first play it, but there are a few faults. Here’s a glimpse of the game:

First thing is the lack of weapons. That sucks. Chad can only jump on his enemies, and this in itself is difficult. Even the medium-sized tomatoes require a bit of skill to get used to stomping, but the small ones are often near impossible to stomp because of how they move. In addition, the larger, boss-type tomatoes are sometimes impossible to hit. But you don’t figure this out until you try and then realize you’re losing life in the process. Second, sometimes it’s not clear what in the world you’re supposed to be doing. The lab level, for example, seems like normal platforming at first glance, until you realize it’s one giant room. Then, you’ll wonder what in the world you’re supposed to do and it will take a good half of an hour to discover the teeny, weeny little platform hidden in the background design you need to jump on in order to hit the switch and reverse gravity so you can access the vents. Took me forever to figure that out. Third, you can pretty much run through the main levels of this game using the dash without facing much opposition. The majority of the tomatoes can be easily avoided, with the execption of Ketchuck in the sewers and Zoltan on the doomsday tower, but once you figure out their patterns, it’s nothing. You’ll thus spend most of your time just running, avoiding everything, and eventually getting to the end. Fourth is the difficulty. Other than the confusion in some of the levels, though mainly the lab, it’s a pretty easy game and it doesn’t take long to beat (I’ll get to this issue in the length). Overall, I had fun with it, but it definitely left me wanting.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is fairly creative in certain areas. The way they mixed some interesting puzzle features with regular platforming is a cool idea, so if it wasn’t for how difficult it was to figure some of it out I would have enjoyed it. Also, since I’m familiar with the show, I’m surprised they didn’t incoporate any of the other characters from the series. If they did some sort of quasi-Maniac Mansion thing using the different stars from the show, it would have been really cool. All you do is control Chad, however, and because of the lack of weapons it really gets old after awhile.

I played Attack of the Killer Tomatoes a few times before I beat it. Afterwards, it wasn’t like I felt I wouldn’t play it again, just not any time soon. The one problem this game has, however, is the legnth. Way too short. I was shocked at how short this game was. There are only a handful of stages, and each one only takes a few minutes to complete. The game, in all, probably only takes about ten minutes to beat if you’re good enough! Seriously? Why was it made so short? Even with the trick ending it’s still one of the shortest games I’ve ever played. Weird.

For THQ, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is one of their better titles. It’s kind of fun at times and has a couple of cool features, but it leaves you wanting, mainly because of the length. The one major problem with this game, as I said, is how short it is. It’s shocking how short, in fact. Couple this with a few other issues and it ends up being average at best. Really a shame, because I feel with what they had here they could have had a real classic if they worked with it some more.