I have been reviewing a few horror type games (although some poke fun at it) this month, but this game does look scary at all. But it belongs on my list. Because you see, it looks cute, but its actually, a horror to play! These controls are terrible! Let us find out why.

Its actually almost meant for children.The gentle looking art design, the story of vegetable people living like people in a garden. You are a knight called Sir Cucumber, or so they tell you, and your quest is to stop an evil pumpkin and rescue the cute Princess Tomato.  


Graphics: 4
There is almost no animation in this game, save for in the limited combat (discussed later) and a tiny handful of events (like the fern bird things). The window you look at everything in is quite small as the large interface buttons hug the sides of your screen, and the large text box is below. You must use your cursor to hunt and peck through the pictures to find what you want to do. I think this is one of the ugliest displays I've seen. All those buttons on the side! Its just too much. The graphics can be cute, but none are drawn in a really engaging way.
I find it really strange you play a character that you never see (unless you beat the game). Not his hands, or a mirror to be seen! People tell you you are a knight, but where is your armor? Where is your .. wild scallion for a horse?  You certainly don't show any trappings of being very knightly. 

Sound: 6
The music is probably one of the better parts of the game. Each chapter of the game has its own music. The first area, a forest has a dreamy, very Kirby-esque feel to it.  The second, a city, is jaunty and full of life.  The sound effects are comparable to NES standards in other titles.


Addictiveness: 4
This is a point-and-click, which is not popular nowadays. You just use your cursor to interact with the enviroment or people, and it feels less fun because it is. This is a crude way to play the game, and by todays standards this kind of crude interface had better have some good reasons to play it. This does not. You play as Sir Cucumber, the knight, but you never see youself. You never hold a sword, you don't do any knightly things in this game except do a round-a-bout way of rescuing a princess .. in the least exciting way possible. Talking to a chestnut in a tie that sells electronics. Fun.  

While the genre of point-and-click is at fault here (bad when coupled with a obviously meant to be actiony hero), there are examples of this type of game style being used well. NES has Maniac Mansion, which uses lots of humor in place of great graphics and doesn't use so many redundant interface buttons. I think I will tell Sir Cucumber to PRAY his game gets better.


Story: 6
The story has some charm. Talking vegetables and fruit. If you've ever heard of the show/movies Veggietales, this is quite like that. Peanut people, garlic guy, there is a lot of variety in the types of foodites you see.
In this world, clearly a garden state (I made a joke!) - the kingdom of Saladonia has fallen on hard times. Their king has died, and a corrupt politician Minister Pumpkin has taken over the throne. Princess Tomato is his prisoner, and you Sir Cucumber, go to rescue the land of vegetables. And apparently Princess Tomato has already been pledged your hand in marriage, so he's there to stop that wolf in the henhouse, is what I'm saying.
From the beginning of the game you will have a sidekick, and he's ... pretty dumb. You rescue Percy the persimmon, and he follows you around, calling you boss, and generally being a clumsy doofus. Each area you go to opens up more about the kingdom and has its own villians and temporary allies. Any leftover (unnecessary) items you found in a level disappear at the very end, because Percy drops EVERYTHING.  Well, literally its the game's fault, but seriously, Percy?  

Despite having little combat, there are things to fight, like SALADOR, which is something of a Jabbawock in this narrative. And also the dreaded Farmies, which I assumed were humans, but they are more like robots. There is a human character, and her kind presence just makes everything weird. Is like, she the only human? And no one is creeped out by this? What does she eat? Yikes. Like Sonic '06, I just pretend we didn't see her.


Depth: 4
The game certainly gives you options on what to do. And its too many, really. Pray? Talk to Percy? Look? Hit? When you are not sure what to do next, your only recourse is to press on all the actions and see if its the right one. Maybe they want you to TALK to that evil pepper dressed like a police officer who is interrogating you? But he's a bad guy, so that seems strange. PRAISE him for upholding the law so he might let you go? Or maybe since he's red faced they want you to GIVE water to him?  Combat is as simple as playing rock scissor paper, with a odd 'which way is my head looking' guessing game. You or your opponent have to get both right to score a hit - and it makes the fights drag on forever. Fortunately, fights are rare. I never thought I'd say that about a video game.  

But everything is on rails so its limiting and frustrating. You often don't know what to do, and are stuck just trying whatever until you finally convince the game that it can move the story along. Stuck in Level 6 Carrot Plateau and Peanut Village? Tough luck pal! You can't go back to old areas,  just look at these five or so screens until you figure out what's next. The largest areas, 3-d mazes, also are the most painful. They feel like they should be in another game entirely, they are so dull and serious. And by dull I mean, there is no random enemies, just lots of dead ends and twists, all to find one thing!  What kid when this was released wanted to map these boring things out? 


Difficulty: 7
The game is a series of trials and errors, some better than others. In areas like the first or second area, I did well. I knew who to talk to, what I was doing. But even if you happen to do well, you still have the totally random battles to deal with. And since the mazes look the same on nearly every screen you will have to patiently count how many steps you take. Neither option is fun - so you're stuck with the sleuthing by random guesswork as your main form of entertainment.


Final Score: 4
This is a game that should stay buried in the past. While the idea of cute little veggie people having their own kingdom is novel, the poor interface and lack of almost any action make this a really dull game. Fare thee well, Princess Tomato!

Great review, but one thing I think you messed up on. The story deserves a 10. Such a gripping story.
Yeah, this game is pretty terrible.

bazboyd : No problem, I will fix it right away!  Into Dreams...

What in the world did I just read? Does this game really exist?

I think that the story deserves a little bit of a higher bit just because it somehow makes sense and it has more effort to it. I think that the plot of the story or scary part of this game should be about being part of a salad.

I have a good idea of how this game goes so thank you for informing me. I now know that a cucumber and a tomato make a good couple and pumpkins are evil. This makes total sense haha. This is not my type of game for obvious reasons.

Good reviews from you as usual. Good descriptions and describing each section of the game for me to picture and visualize the game.

Sir Cucumber and Princess Tomato live happily ever after!

ghostfishy : Sir Cucumber and Princess Tomato live happily ever after!


Yes, they do... 

To me, this sounds like a very unique game. I have never heard of this one, or one like it. I really like the thoughts of battling other vegetables. It really is a nice idea to blame the fact that your items do not carry over on the little bumbling helper that you have! 

endings : thank you for the wonderful picture of the ending. PS who is that creeper at the door? She must be the third wheeler.

ghostfishy : Ha, im glad you mention the creeper. Thats what I thought too. Thats Percy, your little persimmon sidekick. Here you have super cute Ms. Tomato, and then that little goober ruining the picture.

endings : The creeper wants some love as well haha. I don't blame her though. Sidekicks and others need a happy ending as well.