The Cooking Game
- October 21, 2016
- Play Spirit Limited
- 138h median play time
Get on Steam"The Cooking Game" is a time management simulation where players run their own virtual restaurant. Prepare and serve dishes to customers while keeping them happy to earn coins and upgrade kitchen appliances. The game features various levels, ingredients, and recipes to unlock, providing a challenging and engaging cooking experience.
Mac OS
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers a fun and addictive gameplay experience with a variety of restaurants and dishes to explore.
- Great graphics and music enhance the overall enjoyment, making it a visually appealing and entertaining game.
- It provides a good challenge that can be satisfying for players who enjoy time management and cooking simulations.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and crashes, particularly during the tutorial and when accessing achievements.
- Progression is heavily reliant on diamonds, which are difficult to earn, leading to frustration and a grind-heavy experience.
- Many players report that the game feels like a poorly executed mobile port, lacking proper optimization for PC gameplay.
- gameplay9 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 22 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the addictive nature and enjoyable mechanics, particularly in multiplayer modes. However, others expressed disappointment with design flaws and felt that the tweaks made to the game mechanics did not significantly enhance the experience. Overall, the game features engaging graphics and music, contributing to a satisfying and relaxing gameplay experience.
“Fantastic music, warm graphics, and addictive gameplay.”
“Many hours of gameplay ahead!”
“The gameplay is quite addictive, especially the multiplayer part where you compete with others for highest scores, which is called 'chef on the go'.”
“I was still playing the old version wondering if my opinion on the altered mechanics would change, since I assume they did alter it to be fully playable.”
- graphics8 mentions
- 88 % positive mentions
- -25 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are consistently praised for their warmth and appeal, featuring a cartoony style that enhances the overall experience. Players appreciate the visual quality, which complements the addictive gameplay and allows for customization, such as furnishing restaurants and upgrading cooking utensils. Overall, the graphics contribute positively to the game's charm and enjoyment.
“Fantastic music, warm graphics and addictive gameplay.”
“U can furnish your own restaurant, upgrade your cooking utensils, play at a good pace, serve yummy looking food and the game has great graphics.”
“Awesome cooking simulator game with cool graphics and wonderful soundtrack.”
“The graphics are subpar, making the game feel outdated and unpolished.”
“I was disappointed by the low-resolution textures; they really detract from the overall experience.”
“The character models look bland and lack detail, which makes it hard to get immersed in the game.”
- story5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The game's story is structured around a campaign that progresses through various restaurant missions, requiring players to manage resources like cash and diamonds to level up items and achieve mission goals. Players report that the difficulty ramps up significantly after reaching higher levels, demanding intense focus to succeed. While there have been minor glitches, recent updates have improved overall stability.
“It is a campaign-based game that requires movement through each mission stage to obtain cash, diamonds, and XP, leading to eventual leveling up.”
“Make sure you have a good mouse before starting this game, as it will make the difference from 1 to 3 stars in each mission.”
“It is a campaign-based game with no free play, requiring movement through each mission stage to obtain cash, diamonds, and XP, followed by eventual leveling up.”
“After about level 17/18 in each restaurant, customers arrive thick and fast, and it takes a lot of concentration to achieve mission successes thereafter.”
“Finally made it to the 6th restaurant, but it's impossible to get even 2 stars, even on the first mission, as it requires too many diamonds to level up your items for better bonuses.”
- music5 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its fantastic quality and originality, enhancing the overall experience alongside the warm graphics and addictive gameplay. Reviewers highlight the soundtrack as a standout feature, contributing to the game's appeal as a fun and engaging family-friendly title.
“Fantastic music, warm graphics, and addictive gameplay.”
“Addicting game, it has amazing animations and music, and it's a good family game.”
“Awesome cooking simulator game with cool graphics and a wonderful soundtrack.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been a significant issue for many users, with reports of frequent freezing, lag during menus, and crashes, particularly during the tutorial. However, a recent update seems to have improved the situation, reducing major glitches to only minor issues in some missions. Overall, while stability has improved, users still experience sporadic problems.
“Game is laggy as hell just cycling through the menu, can't even try the game as it freezes during the laggy and slow tutorial, like I'm some sort of idiot, and forces you to look at your achievements before the game crashes.”
“I wish I could give this game a real review, but unfortunately every time I try to play it, it freezes on me.”
“(The developers did answer my query; however, they want a screenshot or video which I can't provide since the glitches are sporadic.)”
- monetization3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is a port from mobile to PC, with in-game purchases removed, leading to a noticeable lack of monetization options. Players express a desire for the reintroduction of microtransactions, specifically for purchasing in-game currency like diamonds, indicating that the absence of these features detracts from the experience.
“This is obviously a port of a mobile game to PC, in which the in-game purchases have been removed.”
“It's a good game, but it's very obviously a mobile port that at one point had in-app purchases.”
“I would suggest you add microtransactions inside the game; there were times when I really wanted to buy some diamonds if that were possible.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players note that in the premium PC version, acquiring extra diamonds requires significant grinding after just a few hours of gameplay, which can be a tedious experience.
“In the premium PC version, after a few hours, there are no ways to earn extra diamonds without some very hard grinding.”
“The grinding in this game feels endless and tedious, making it hard to stay engaged.”
“I find the grinding mechanics to be overly repetitive, which detracts from the overall enjoyment of the game.”
