Yeti Corner: I’m addicted to a cooking game
Yes, it’s a ridiculous game. But, man, I’m hooked.
I bought Cook, Serve, Delicious! off of Steam during the winter sale two or three years ago. It was while I was spending time at my in-laws’ for the holidays, and it seemed like a few bucks worth of a chance.
You play as the owner/chef/rat-catcher of a restaurant located in the SherriSoda office tower. You start with a small dive restaurant and it’s your task to grow it to a five-star, elite establishment.
The main gameplay mechanic is preparing meals for diners. You start with a limited number of dishes and acquire more food options with the income you generate running the restaurant. You choose a menu for the day, then you serve customers during the restaurant’s operating hours. You must serve meals to patrons while also completing tasks such as washing dishes, setting rat traps, and taking out the garbage.
It’s a fast puzzle game where accuracy is essential. Each food has a combination of steps to prepare. The early foods are easy. For instance, for fried chicken, you press the DOWN key to fry, then place the chicken onto a plate using the P key (or alternative keys on different platforms). As you advance, the preparation for many foods gets quite complex. For instance, with pasta dishes, you must first cook the raw pasta which starts a timer. Once the timer is done, you must prepare the dish with ingredients like cheese sauce, onions, meatballs, chicken, bacon, tomatoes, and spices.
The challenge is that each dish is prepared differently, and the key bindings for one dish do not necessarily transfer to another. For instance, mushrooms are tied to both the M key and the U key depending on what dish you are preparing. Thus attention to detail is key.
You start with four preparation slots available. When a customer arrives, his or her order appears in one of the slots. You must select that slot, then follow the steps to prepare the dish. The trick is that orders buildup. Some require cooking time, while others make you hold a key for a certain duration. You only have a small window of time to complete each order before the customer leaves upset.
There are a few brilliant things about this game that elevate it from “fun little puzzler” to something that I return to over and over, especially during the holidays at my in-laws’. One is the multitasking nature. I pride myself on my ability to channel my ADD into a multitasking machine of a man. This game pushes that concept of myself. You have to keep up with multiple orders (up to eight at a time).
Another great element is the humor in the game. You receive emails each day after you complete your service time. Some of these emails pertain to your game progression, such as safety inspections or foods that need to come off your menu. But some are just ridiculous spam, and those emails are wonderfully entertaining. There’s also a dating mechanic where you must prepare an order for a potential love interest then respond to their text messaging while continuing to run your restaurant.
The game also has lots of extra content to challenge you. There are special catering events, Iron Cook events (based off of Iron Chef), and the ultimate test of the Hungry Festivities, which challenges you to make all the different recipe cards of different foods without making any mistakes. There are also daily challenges, which allow you to measure yourself against other players online, and local multiplayer options.
As I said at the beginning, this is a ridiculous game. But it’s also ridiculously fun, especially if you enjoy a fast-paced puzzle game. And there’s a sequel coming next year! Check out the trailer below.
