Out To Lunch [SNES]

"This is a platform game based around collecting food(!) You control the chef called Pierre around 48 levels (plus bonus and hidden mini-levels) arranged in groups of 8, each group of 8 levels being themed around a country starting with Switzerland and ending in France.

Now does that sound uninspiring or what ? Collecting food ? It sounds original - but how could that be fun ? Well it is. The food has a life of its own and will happily roam around the 1 screen wide, vertically scrolling levels until you get anywhere near them. At this point they will hop, roll or run away from you in any way that their form permits.

There are a few basic food items that you will see in every country such as eggs, mushrooms and potatoes - but each country will have a guest food item. Switzerland has a Swiss cheese, West Indies has pineapples etc.

Graphics
The thing is , in this game the food looks cute! It is hard to imagine (even harder to find a screenshot of this game on the web) but believe me it is. How anyone has managed to give a potato personality is beyond me. The blurb on the box goes on about "over 1000" frames on animation in the game and it shows.

The levels are big - several screens high - and extremely well drawn and themed to the country in question. The sprites are quite small. Pierre would be about 50% bigger than a non-Superised Mario and the food varies around this size (the potato is quite big compared to the rest of them though). The level of detail is outstanding however - the swiss cheese bounces along and "squidges" a bit when "he" hits the ground, the mushroom hops along on his stalk, moving it back and forth as he does so, eggs roll along - and sprout mini egg-shell parachutes when they drop down a level. Most food items have blinking eyes and there is even animation on the mouths of some of them - it is absolutely charming. Pierre is full of character too - his hat bends in the breeze when he runs along.

Gameplay
At the top of the screen, along with the usual information(score, time, lives etc.) is a number indicating how many pieces of food Pierre has to capture. How does he do that ? Well he has to find a net first (in the early levels it is pretty close to his starting position) and when he has done that he can chase the food and catch them in his net. He can stun the food first by "doing a Mario" and jumping on it.

At any time, Pierre can go to the cage (there is one in each level and he has to find that too), and by running over the top of it he deposits the food he has caught in the net. When the target number of food items is reached - a portal opens (he now has to find that - in early levels it is close to the cage) and on to the next level. You can choose to gather all food items in the net (although the target indicator will only change when food drops into the cage) and get a bigger bonus when you deposit them all in the cage at once, or just collect them one at a time or in twos or threes - whatever you like.

If a piece of food collides with Pierre - you don't lose a life but you will be stunned and some food will escape from the net and run away from you like the clappers - so there is a risk in gathering lots of food in your net at once. There is a fairly tight time limit on each level and there is a superb panic inducing tune that kicks in on the last 20 seconds. Run out of time and you lose a life.

There are other weapons that Pierre can collect. The flour bag gives you unlimited flour bags to throw at the food and stun them. The level of control is superb here - you can aim using up and down on the D-pad to effect the arc of the throw. Another weapon is the bottle of chilli sauce which gives Pierre a flaming breath - breath on a food item and he is scorched and stunned - the stunned and scorched food graphics are beautifully done.

There are springs that Pierre (and the food!) can use to propel himself upward - beware though - bash into a platform from below and you will be stunned allowing food to escape from your net. There are also teleporters dotted around the levels for fast transportation - the food items use them too. If fact, if you time it right, you can throw a flour bag into a teleporter and it will be teleported too!

So on you go - stunning and collecting food. But there's more! Le Chef Noire , Pierre's arch enemy will turn up from time to time and open the cage on you , letting all the food out. When the food escapes it warps away to another part of the level with a cute popping sound. You can prevent this if you can get to the cage and close it before the food makes its escape.

In later levels, some enemies appear - Salmonella and Listeria start roaming around levels - if they touch food they will temporarily infect it. Infected food turns nasty and starts chasing Pierre - you lose a life if infected food touches you. You can stun them - but if you jump on a piece of infected food too many times it will kill him - perhaps leaving you without enough food items to collect to reach your target. If Listeria, who looks like an angry sack of pus, contacts Pierre he eats him ( you see poor Pierre inside him!) while Salmonella makes Pierre ill and the left right controls are reversed temporarily. These enemies can be disposed of by repeatedly jumping on them - and they can be stunned by weapons too. There are wasps flying around too who will relieve you of another of Pierre's lives very quickly.

With all this going on against an increasingly tough time limit, it is probably no surprise to hear that this game is tough - damn tough in my opinion - borderline frustrating in fact - but the charm of the game means it gets away with it. There are lots of secret bonus levels to be found too. For example - on one level in Switzerland there is a row of bells - hit them with flour bags in the correct sequence and they play a tune - and open a portal to a bonus level. At the end of each block of 8 levels there a bonus level where you run along a forced horizontally scrolling screen collecting goodies and keeping a shopping trolley ahead of you by nudging it. The level will end prematurely if you fail to keep the trolley ahead of you - great stuff.

Sound
Sound is exemplary too. Great tunes play in the background and the spot effects are full of character. Jump on an egg - you hear a great egg cracking sound as he is stunned. Kill a germ and there is a great squelching sound as he bursts. There are lots of cute little jingles announcing events such as portals opening or the arrival of Le Chef Noire!

Overall
This was called a "sleeper hit" in the great UK SNES magazine - Super Play. To me it is one of the best kept secrets in platform gaming. There is a two player alternating option which is OK - split screen mode would have been amazing (although too much for the SNES perhaps). The thing is though, there are no passwords (there is an Amiga version which does have passwords), so you have start from the beginning every time (you do have the option to start at West Indies - the third country) and this hurts the playability - it is such a big challenging game that you may be put off going back to it. However I can't recommend it enough - it is uttlerly, uttlerly charming. If you're a SNES owner who is into classic platforming with a touch of style and a massive challenge then snap this up straight away!"