Crush, Crumble and Chomp! was a
movie monster computer game, where the objective was basically to last as long as possible, tearing up town, and regaining health by chewing up
civilians. The game invariably ended in your monster's death, so your goal was to stay alive as long as possible.
You had six monsters to choose from, each based on archetypical movie monsters.
- Arachnis - the giant radioactive spider. Arachnis lacks crushing power, and needs to rely on fire to destroy the town. However his speed and ability to cast webs to scoop up fleeing civilians compensates. He also has the ability to burrow underneath the ground and emerge a safe distance away.
- Goshilla - the giant radioactive lizard from the ocean. Goshilla is very powerful, and can breath radioactive flames, and leave a trail of radioactivity that causes damage to buildings over time. However, he is slow, and has a difficult time catching prey easily. Hunger is a big problem for Goshilla.
- Kraken - the giant squid. Kraken is one of the most powerful monsters in the game, but is limitted in that he must remain in the water at all times. He can easily crumble coastal buildings, but is restricted in mobility.
- Mantra - the giant prehistoric pterodactyl. Mantra can take to the sky and fly across the map rapidly. This is important because his crush strength is weak, and he can't take much damage. A much more effective strategy is to strafe buildings, torching the terrain underfoot, and avoiding heavy confrontation.
- Mechismo - the giant robot. Mechismo is unique among the monsters in that he doesn't need to eat. He can take out human units from a distance with laser cannons, but is very slow to maneuver. Because he doesn't need to be continually chasing food, he can focus on obliterating an area of town, instead of constantly having to be on the move to stay alive.
- The Glob - the giant blob. The Glob is a giant radioactive ooze from Washington DC. As he moves around, he automatically creates a trail of fire. This combined with his ability to turn on a dime (having no forward face) makes him a formidable monster. However, his thin hide means you have to be careful not to be under the focus of too many military units at once.
There are four towns which can be rampaged through in this game,
Golden Gate (
San Francisco),
New York,
Tokyo, and
Washington D.C. They each have their own unique layouts.
Crush, Crumble, and Chomp! was originally created by Jon Freeman (the founder of Epyx) and J. W. Connelley for the TRS-80 in 1981 and released under Automated Simulations. CC&C! then was ported to the Apple 2 that same year, where it received color, and finally to the Atari 800. Automated Simulations became Epyx, and in 1983 released ports for the VIC-20 in 1982, and the Commodore 64 in 1983. This last version is probably the most well known, and it was the first version of the game, besides the limitted palette of the Apple 2 version, to have multi-color sprites.