Title: Overcooked
Version Tested: Xbox One
Available On: PS4, PC, Xbox One
Developer: Ghost Town Games
Publisher: Team 17
Genre: Cooking Simulator
Official Site: https://www.ghosttowngames.com/overcooked/
Release Date: 3-8-2016
Where To Buy: PSN Store, Xbox Store, Steam
Overcooked captures the essence of what gamers what from small, independent titles. Accessibility, creativity and the quintessential ingredient, fun. Arriving from the publishers who have developed the Worms series for the past two decades, Overcooked puts you and you friends in one of the most stressful and archaic environments to work, the kitchen. The focus on multiplayer makes this infuriatingly addictive sim both equal measures of excitement and exasperation.
Although Overcooked can be played independently, as is the case in the real world, running a successful restaurant needs a harmonious team. Playing solo still requires you to control two chefs, so grabbing a friend or partner to assist in the kitchen is a wise move or… Potentially not.
Overcooked seems fairly grounded in comparison to Team 17’s Worms franchise but the wacky characters still remain here. A wheelchair bound squirrel or a spectacle wearing cat will be cooking the meals. The first mission takes place on the roof of a skyscraper as flaming meatballs descend from the fiery heavens. The onion king and the future of the kingdom depend on your culinary skills to sate the demons appetite (who happens to be a giant spaghetti and meatball monster.)
Suffice to say, the task ahead is not easy but thankfully, the onion king possesses time bending powers and our heroes travel back to a placid time. After an inspiring speech, our chefs set off into the adorable overworld aboard a bus in the hope of becoming culinary geniuses and prevent the upcoming apocalypse.
After the daunting inferno you barely escaped, the pacing of Overcooked slows down and you begin to adore the indicative simplicity it offers. Two or more chefs are placed in a kitchen and as orders begin to arrive from the front of the house, by working together the dishes must be completed. The essential element which makes Overcooked such a great yet difficult experience is the inability to create meals without corroborating.
The first restaurant thankfully specializes in simple stews. Tomato soup requires three tomatoes which you must chop up, place in the cooking pot, serve onto a plate and deliver to the ever-rotating serving belt. Seems easy right? Well, the customers here expect their meals in record time and as the items are novelty large to the extent they dwarf the chef holding them, only one item can be carried at a time. The ideal team would evenly split the workload and how you do this depends on communication? Should one focus on preparation and washing dishes? Calling orders and making sure the food does not set on fire? Occasionally, through the layout of the stages, individual tasks are forced upon you and as you can guess, not in the most efficient manner.
The first level is relatively calming compared to what Overcooked has in store for you. Basic soups become complex burgers, pizzas, and even burritos. These intricate meals can vary with different meats and customers holding back particular ingredients. As a fussy eater, I now feel drenched with guilt for the torture I may have put kitchen staff through during my lifetime. Aside from the ever complex meals, levels themselves differ. As our chefs perfect their craft in preparation for the biggest food critic in the world, they will sail on boats, ride multiple lorries or even fry fish and chips on ice caps. Each level offers a unique challenge with rotating platforms, conveyor belts and many other intrusive obstacles attempting to ruin that perfect dish.
Where Overcooked becomes to ultimate couch co-op game is how simple it is to play whilst accommodating for multiple players to join. The simple three button control scheme allows two players to actually share a controller. Movement is allocated to either an analogue stick and the D-pad whilst the remaining buttons are assigned to picking up items, actioning and dashing. Controllers are not cheap and with little reason to own any more than a couple, this creative choice brings the chaos of too many cooks in the kitchen to the living room. Be careful who you play with though as arguments will erupt. My partner and I would notice the volume of our voices spiking and the pleasant words emitting from our mouths became fouler as time passed. The jubilation of achieving three stars on a stage soon put the quarrel to rest however and I am pleased to say, we are as strong as we ever were.
The story missions culminate where the game begins with the Meatball Monster waiting voraciously as his hunger grows. The final mission is extremely tough. Every obstacle encountered to this point will appear and feels like the crescendo the game needed. Once the campaign is finished there is a competitive mode to play yet the real enjoyment comes from the corroboration in the kitchen. Sadly the lack of any online multiplayer seems like a missed opportunity because playing alone, Overcooked seems significant less fun.
Overcooked is charming and compact. The control scheme is minimalistic, the mechanics simple and the objective linear yet when combined together, make an enjoyable deep experience. Few games have the ability to provoke emotion from the player as Overcooked does. You cannot simply play this cooking simulation in silence, the room will soon be filled with laughter, anger, and celebration which is what true party games should do.
- Gameplay: Simple Multiplayer Based Fun
- Graphics: Charming and Vibrant
- Sound: Chaos of A Busy Kitchen
- Presentation: Clever Integration For Multiple Players
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