But is just sort of OK. The gameplay loop can be tedious and not very user-friendly with lots of timers and schedule cut-offs. It can feel frustrating or like the only way to fulfill the task it wants successfully is to pay far too much attention to it. The setting is nice, but small with rough-around-the-edges graphics for a game that really needs immersion given its casual nature and high pricepoint. It fails to live up to 'mindless fun.' Also, nominally its a reasonably priced game, but the devs have decided to make users buy additional arcade games as "DLC", even though they are a crucial part of the gameplay. The problem is that the arcade games are small in scope and uneven in terms of quality. It's really alienating to see a flood of paid DLC when its inevitable that you will find at least some of them not fun.
This game is a classic. Not the best game by any means. But if you never played it new, basically, you wind up building an empire of restaurants in different cities, building through a campaign that has a series of missions related to restaurant performance, or winning cooking tournaments. Pros: -Story is corny as heck, in a good way. A few Dad jokes. But the consistent tone and general silliness reinforces the feel good nature of the game. There's no real drama or stakes, which is the opposite of building a restaurant empire haha. -Graphics have an Early-sims style that has nice nostalgia feel. The games runs pretty well on even a very basic laptop. -Variety in gameplay Cons: -Not a great sim- pathfinding is rough, not a realistic presentation. You eventually learn the limitations of the staff and adapt- where to place things so people don't run into each other. It's the not-so-great legacy aspect- wanting AI.
