Toast Time Review

Toast Time Review

Rarely has a single input control (of a single click) conjured up so much complexity, chaos and calories as Toast Time. Released first in 2013 for mobile, this level based tower-defensey shmup featuring a Toaster named Terry bakes its way to Steam. Terry is tasked to defend an alarm clock from inter-dimensional beasts and do so for a set number of seconds in each level.

At his disposal are a variety of unlockable weapons from the bread family ranging from baguettes to bagels to breadcrumbs. Each weapon is modeled after your standard shooter arms but are creatively reconstructed: bread pudding is your scatter grenade, bagels are fired as buckshots, breadcrumbs act as a flamethrower.

Terry shoots toast in the direction where you click, but the shtick of it all is that: each shot leads to a giant recoil effect, pushing back Terry across the level. And thus chaos ensues. The game needs you to change strategies on the fly, keeping in mind Terry’s location while being cognizant of where enemies appear from on the screen.

Majority of the levels feel like they are fit for casual play and can be passed through twitch reactions. But the later levels are unrelenting, and demand specific strategies. This caveat is however eased slightly by the random nature of weapons that spawn. Also the fact that one can unlock all weapons by replaying levels or via the Survivor mode.

It is appreciable that progress is not curtained behind three-staring each level. As for the design of the levels themselves, they are pretty well thought-out featuring a variety of enemies, propeller fans and portals to complicate things (I just wished that more levels brilliantly utilized the core gameplay the way Level 39 does).

Though Toast Time goes for pure gameplay, the pixel aesthetics and the soundtrack are serviceable. The witty item description and ‘Mission failed’ comments are entertaining inclusions. Toast Time doesn’t take long to beat and honestly it’s not a game you would sit on a PC to play (its more fitting for handhelds). But it’s a great excuse to spend those $5 you have lying around in your steam wallet, which would otherwise be squandered over cosmetic DLC.

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