Tommy Kombat review

December 15, 2003 | | format - Other (ar.) | viewed - 47x
rating -

(24 votes) | category - -

Tommy Kombat review

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Game play

Tommy Kombat consists of a variety of mission types including:

Rescuing hostages/civilians
Saving burning buildings by putting out fires
Eliminating terrorists/criminals
Retrieving sensitive data
and many more

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To aid in the completion of the 60+ missions a variety of weapons and equipment can be picked up along the way e.g.

Spanner
Blowtorch
Jetpack
Fire Extinguisher
Laser
Infrared goggles
Explosives
Rocket launcher
Machine gun

Each of which can be used to battle the many enemies or the four bosses available in Tommy Kombat.

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Tommy tends to start each level either at the top or bottom of a maze like level that can consists of platforms, doors and trap doors, switches, lift, slides and equipment that requires manipulating e.g. cranes. All of which have to be negotiated in order to dispatch the target enemies, retrieve the necessary data or secure a safe passage for the lemming like hostages.

The puzzles are quite challenging but not impossible, occasionally a few pixel perfect jumps are required, but this is easily mastered. The level of interaction between the general environment and the games other characters is quite simply great, with balaclava clad terrorists actively chasing after you while the goon’s just perform their patrols and only shoot on visual contact.

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The hostages are lemming like and spend their time running back and forth even when set free, requiring any hazards e.g. acid pools, fires, terrorists etc to be removed prior to springing the hostages.

A big factor that impacts on the game play is the extremely frustrating requirement to input a level code if you should you fail a level and want to carry on from the last level.

Each code has to be entered from the main screen and involves tapping on the screen to call up the menu options, tapping file, tapping level code and then tapping out an eight digit code (far to many to remember is this reviewers tiny mind).

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This was found to severely limit the game play factor when trying to play while traveling (As I’m so cr@p I had to keep tapping the code in each time I failed a level, which happened A LOT!). It is absolutely essential that the new level code be written down BEFORE starting a new level (and before any buttons are touched), if you fail the level, the previous level code (that’s been written down) must be entered or you start at the beginning again.

Why the codes can’t be remembered by the game (even if it’s just the previous levels code) or through the use of an automatic continue option is anyone’s guess!

Graphics

Tommy Kombat: special ops is presented in a 2D, side on view. With exceptional detail in the backgrounds and the characters themselves, the criminals bear mean grimaces and stubble, the hostages run around holding their hands in the air and their hair standing on end, with a look of utter fear and shock on their faces, which is darkly humorous. The graphics are rendered really well in a cute cartoon/comic fashion. The superb use of colour that is used to defining the background and the smooth in game animation is excellent.

Controls

The in game controls (as tested on an Ipaq 3970) are unfortunately a let down for Tommy Kombat, as the player has to search the device to find a text document (titled "keys.txt"). The layout of the hardware keys then has be to figured out and edited in the text file. Now having to look for and edit a text and not being able to configure the controls from within the game is bad........ But it gets worse! On my Ipaq 3970 the two left most hardware keys cannot be configured, instead only the voice memo record button (way up on the top left side) and the impossible to use '5th key' (direction pad pushed in) could be remapped to. This made game play awkward, kinda similar to the initial discomfort felt when switching from years of playing on a PC to playing on a console, not uncomfortable, just a pain in the @rse with regards to the intuitiveness, when playing on an Ipaq 3970.

The developer was contacted regarding this and informed the reviewer (in just a matter of hours from the e-mail being sent, so to be fair the developer does offer good support) that: “Unfortunately, the limitation is due to the GAPIdraw drivers in the game that we have utilized to drive the key inputs”. The best configuration (which was also recommended by the developer) is:

Keys as viewed across the bottom of the PPC starting at the right KEY1 KEY2 and D’ pad pressed in = KEY4, Voice recorder = KEY4. (Ipaq 3970)

SWITCH_KEY = KEY3
CYCLE_KEY = KEY4
SHOOT_KEY = KEY1
JUMP_KEY = KEY2

Tommy Kombat can be paused at anytime by tapping the screen.

Sound

The sound track featured on the main screen of Tommy Kombat: special ops is a pumping high-energy techno tune that is guaranteed to p!ss off any fellow commuters (unless their going to a rave club). In-game - only the sound effects are available, but these are quite good, with the on screen action being clearly and precisely reflected e.g. a whistling wind on a construction yard or dripping water when in a cave/sewer as well as a whacking crash as a crate falls down, the crackle of flames as a building burns and little moans as Tommy is taken out of action by a terrorist (yet again! The swine’s).

The sound level can be altered from the main menu or by pausing the game and tapping tools and sliding either the music volume or sound effects volume.

Options

The main menu screen can be called at any time by touching the screen (this also pauses the game). From the main menu the following options are available.

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File

New game: Starts a new game.
Tutorial: Starts at the first level and walks you through the completion of first couple of levels.
Level code: Enter the eight digit level codes, displayed at the top of each new levels objective screen.
Exit: Exits Tommy Kombat.

Tools

Register: Enter your registration code here.
Instructions: Explains the on screen indicators (bottom left of screen e.g. amount of lives, hostages, terrorists etc left).
About: informs you of Tommy Kombats developers

Installation

Installation is by the normal ActiveSync method from your Pocket PC to your desktop or laptop PC, and only takes approximately 3 megabytes of storage. If you choose to install to a storage card (SD or CF) the performance continues to run extremely smoothly.