Scorched Toast is a unique Windows Phone arcade game that has you playing the role of a toaster who has to launch toast at various breakfast plates that serve as targets.
Scorched Toast isn't exactly an action packed Windows Phone game but it is a fun game to pass the time with. Available for low memory devices, the game includes online leaderboards, a gaming store to pick up a few power-ups and Cloud game saves to synchronize your progress between Windows Phone and Windows 8 devices.
Don't burn the toast
The main menu for Scorched Toast is fairly simple. You have options to mute the sound and music, view the game's About Screen, hop over to the game store and jump into game play.
As you play the game, you will earn toaster bucks that can be spent in the game's store. Scorched Toast's store has purchase options for bonus items to help your toast land on the target plate, buy hats for your toaster and make in-app purchases for toaster bucks.
The game screen will have your toaster and breakfast plate (the target) randomly placed on the screen. The terrain is also randomly generated with various hills and valleys, some of which you can bounce your toast off and onto the plate.
In the top center of the screen is your toast supply and in the right corner is your score and heart count. Hearts can be used to continue a game that when you run out of toast. Once you purchase items from the game store, a backpack will appear in the lower right corner of the screen. Tapping on this backpack will give you access to your inventory.
Game Play
The object of the game is to shoot your toast on to the plate. You begin each game with eight slices of bread and the slices of toast you land on the plate will carry over to the next round of play. There are three rounds per day and at the beginning of each new day, you will receive bonus slices of bread. The game ends when you fail to land any of your toast on the plate.
Game mechanics are a little on the tricky side. You slide across the screen to adjust your toast's trajectory and when that is set, slide down on the screen to start your toaster. The longer you hold the screen, the more the bread is toasted and the higher it will be launched. You do get bonus points the higher you send the toast but hold the screen too long and a burnt remaining cinder of bread will be launched into orbit, never to be seen again.
While the game mechanics are simple, they can be tricky. As you slide down on your Windows Phone screen to set the launch power, the slightest of movements to the left or right will effect your launch trajectory. You may feel the urge to slide further down the screen than necessary, which will increase the chances of your aim being thrown off. Just keep in mind you only need to slide down far enough to turn the toaster on. It's the length of the toast cooking that sets your launch power, not how you slide down the screen.
Money is scattered about the sky that can be collected as bonus cash that can be spent in the game's store. You have bonus items such as maple syrup that will prevent your toast from bouncing off the plate and hats to dress up your toaster.
Overall Impression
Scorched Toast is a Windows Phone game that does grow on you the more you play it. The graphics and animations are nicely drawn up and game play does have a bit of challenge to it.
It is nice to see that your game progress on either the Windows Phone or Windows 8 version of Scorched Toast is shared between the two devices. I would have liked to have seen a Help Section to at least reference the bonus items available. There are pop-up windows that appear from time to time that covers new items but those of us who are short on memory would appreciate a follow-up reference source.
The lack of a Help Section is probably the biggest nit I have with Scorched Toast but by no means is it a deal killer. The game receives five stars over in the Windows Phone Store and while we would rate it more along the four star range, we still see it as an entertaining game for Windows Phone and Windows 8 devices.
- Scorched Toast - Windows Phone 8 - 19MB - Free - Store Link
- Scorched Toast - Windows 8 - 14.2MB - Free - Store Link
