The first game in this series was frighteningly addictive thanks to the focus on building up a great restaurant by constantly changing up what foods you decide to serve each day. While it still retains this motif it focuses more on serving foods in a bunch of unique restaurants that also happen to be in the newly opened Terragon tower. Each one has a different theme like the fact Good Japan serves Japanese food or Biggs Burger has way too much fast food. Memorizing the different ways to make food and serving them perfectly each day is the endless goal this game requires you to do.
In a lot of ways this feels like a typing game to me. Memorizing the different variations of the letters I'll need to type to compete a meal. After I found out the variations it just comes down to not making a mistake. Which is really easy to do when things get hectic. Every day is a slow build up to rush hour when requests for food come in at a constant pace. If the player hasn't gotten a handle on all of the foods it’s easy to be left with the kitchen starting to catch on fire. Yet when it all comes together you’ll feel like the best fake chef ever once you compete your first perfect day.
Cooking up a storm for other places is cool but you also have access to your own restaurant. Thanks to a patch it also feels a lot more like the original. Yet it very much feels like it was bolted on and wasn’t the real focus. It certainly hits all the check marks. 1. Silly emails each day. 2. Purchasable equipment that makes each day easier. 3. The ability to swap out food to keep the buzz meter up. 4. Access to a ton of customization for your own unique place. Other than the fact I was able to make the raddest looking pizza parlor around the rest of the list falls flat. The dumb emails are hindered by the fact you get way too many. Buying new equipment barely helps in keeping chores from popping up. While the final nail in the coffin seems to be the fact that this new game feels more focused on challenges instead of the day to day stuff.
Which is completely fine since I enjoy that aspect. Challenging myself to a different style of food each time I boot up this game is fun. Makes it feel like less of a grind than if I was slowly building up some cash by going to the same restaurant every day. The core time management part remains just as addictive as before. Aided by some very good looking food that would easily make you hungry. The overall charm has been lessened but that might just be because it is a sequel. Some things just don’t work quite as well the second time around. Still I recommend anyone play this game if they enjoy time management games or if you enjoy testing your keyboard skills with rapid fire orders.