Composer(s) Mark Knight Developer Mindscape | Initial release date 1993 Publisher Mindscape | |
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Mode(s) Single-player,
2 Player Alternating Platforms Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Amiga, AmigaOS Genres Action game, Side-scrolling Similar Mindscape games, Side-scrolling games, Other games | ||
Pierre le Chef is... Out to Lunch is a video game that was released for the Game Boy and SNES in 1993 by Mindscape. It was then ported to the Amiga and Amiga CD32 in 1994.
Contents
Out to Lunch is a side-scrolling platformer that revolves around a French chef who has to try to collect ingredients for his dishes by going to different countries to catch them as they have escaped.
Plot
Pierre le Chef is touring the world preparing his dishes, but his ingredients have escaped and he must capture them. Pierre must watch out for bacteria, insects, and his arch-rival, Le Chef Noir. Noir, an evil chef jealous of Pierre's success, wants to ruin his career by releasing all of his gathered ingredients.
Gameplay
There is a single-player mode and a two-player alternating mode. In either mode, Pierre le Chef is the playable character. The objective is to capture a set number of ingredients before time runs out. Ingredients must be caught in a net and emptied into the level's cage. However, in every level, the player must first find the net before they can catch anything. Once the ingredients are placed in the cage, a door to the next level will appear somewhere in the stage. Along the way, the player will encounter germs and bacteria which, if the player gets touched by, loses a life. The bacteria can also turn the ingredients into hostile enemies against Pierre when they touch them. The player must also be wary of Chef le Noir, who will appear in certain levels to hinder the player's progress. Additionally, the player can pick up weapons like flour bags or hot sauce which can be used to stun ingredients and the bacteria. The player must guide Pierre le Chef through Switzerland, Greece, Jamaica (known in the game is the West Indies), Mexico, China and then France. Each country has 8 levels that the player has to navigate through. At the end of every country, the player plays a bonus game where they can collect bonus points for extra lives.
Once the player loses all lives or completes the game, the player is given a final score based on how much points the player got throughout the game and that score is put on the high scores list. However, this list is reset once the console is turned off.
Reception
The game received mixed to positive reviews. GameSpot gave the game a 7.1 of 10, commending the gameplay for being nice and simple but said that some floors were rather glitchy and criticized the poor midair movement while GameRankings gave the game 59.50%.