Nimble Fingers

It had been quite awhile since I initially picked up Cook, Serve, Delicious 2, but I decided to delve back into the world of madcap button mashing.  The follow up to the zany and hectic restaurant sim offers even more delicious food and panic inducing rush hours.  I've been cursing my clumsy fingers as I doggedly pursue gold medals on cook-for-hire levels (you should only do this if you're truly some kind of masochist--I keep telling myself to stop, but then I find myself playing the same level over and over...it's compulsive).

Pros:

A quick peek at a small portion of the catalog.

--Food design is beautiful.  The food in CSD2 looks extremely delicious and it's obvious that a ton of effort went into making it look that way.  You will probably find yourself getting hungry just from playing.

--Tons of food choice.  As you play and earn money you can either unlock new foods or purchase them.  There is a wide array of entrees, side dishes, drinks, and desserts to choose from.  Picking a menu is a much more daunting task than in the first game.

--Different game modes.  Players can either choose to run their own restaurant (similar to the first game--you pick your menu each day, earn buzz or detractors, purchase upgrades) or they can choose to play the "cook for hire" levels.  Cook for hire offers challenges in a large number of themed restaurant.  Each shift in cook for hire is different and players can earn money and medal rankings for their performance--bronze--8 or fewer average or bad orders; silver--5 or fewer; and gold--no average or bad orders.  As players earn medals, they can unlock various food and restaurant design items.

If you choose to run your own restaurant, you can choose from several different game modes.  There's the classic mode where you earn buzz each day; standard mode which doesn't include daily buzz; zen mode which is absent of the frantic rush hours; and stress mode which is designed to make you crazy--it's basically non-stop rush hour.

Dining with cats.  My cat themed restaurant.

--Restaurant design tool.  As you unlock more items, you can choose exactly how you want your restaurant to look.  There are a wide variety of floors, bars, tables, chairs, objects, windows, paint/wall patterns, dividers, plants, and so much more!  You can create a themed restaurant or just throw together whatever whacky items that you like.  My current theme is cats.

--Holding stations and strategizing.  Part of figuring out each cook for hire level is trying to plan how you will utilize your holding stations.  Some foods require a holding station, it's optional for some others, and it's generally a good idea to have some side dishes on hand to increase customer patience.  Managing your regular prep stations and the holding stations can be completely crazy, but it adds in an element of strategy.

--Continued development of features.  There have been several updates since the game was released and more content has been added.  It's very obvious that Chubigans listens to feedback and works to give players the fixes and new content that they want to see.

Cons:

"All the Sports Grill" is one of the many "cook for hire" levels.

--There's very little reason to play in your own restaurant and it's obvious that much more work went into designing the cook for hire levels.  I really loved the first game for the feeling of creating a barebones restaurant and then working your way up.  The feeling is completely absent and it's part of the reason why I walked away from the game for so long.  Cook for hire is fun and challenging, but it's just not the same.  Plus, if you want to earn golds, you will be beating your head against the wall playing the same levels over and over.  It can get repetitive.

--Complicated foods.  The food is beautiful, but now it's also extremely complicated.  If you want to create a pizza you first have to choose a type of dough and sauce, then hit space to change to the next page of ingredients, then choose from meats and cheeses, then hit space again, then choose veggie/fruit options.  There are many foods that require multiple steps and so many ingredients that trying to keep them all memorized is a huge challenge.  (I think this is one aspect of the game that some might love and some might hate--I lean toward the dislike side)

I would recommend CSD2.  It doesn't quite have the same story-like feeling that the first game has, but the variety of player-based choices offers much more personalization.  The cook for hire levels are fun and there's a ton of freedom to choose exactly how you want to play. 

Slime and Punishment

Even though my Steam wishlist is chocked full of gaming goodness, I've found myself unable to pull the trigger on any new purchases.  Well, newer than Cook, Serve, Delicious 2 which I wrote about last week.  Until the next big sale I think I will be finding myself spending time revisiting some old familiar games and trying to soldier through CSD2.

Slime
One of those ol' familiars is the fabulously cute Slime Rancher.  It's a game about exploring a world filled with an array of cute little slimes, capturing them, raising them, and then selling their plort byproducts for cash.  If you're like me, you might've walked away from Slime Rancher during its early access days.  Now that it's in full release there are even more adventures to be had with new areas, new slimes, new gadgets, and much, much more.  There are slimes to be captured!

Upon my return I decided to check out the two new areas--the Ancient Ruins and the Glass Desert.  The Ancient Ruins are an almost puzzle-like area filled with some interesting new slimes.  Quantum slimes have the unique ability to project an image of themselves and to teleport.  Their favorite food is the unique fruit, the phase lemon.  Phase lemons can only be obtained by shooting fruit that already exists at the lemon tree.  A fruit for a fruit.  Once you've captured some quantum slimes you want to make sure that you keep them fed and happy.  Unhappy quantum slimes have a tendency to teleport themselves outside of corrals and require some extra wrangling.

My beautiful mosaic tangle largo slimes.

Once you've found the Boom Gordo slime in the Ancient Ruins and satisfied it's desire for chicken consumption, you can unlock the teleporter to the Glass Desert.  On first glance the Glass Desert seems mostly empty.  You'll stumble across a new slime--the dervish slime--and some plants scattered across the large wasteland.  With some careful exploration you can unlock special fountains that can be used to restore oasis like areas across the zone.  In these oasis zones you will find two new species of slimes--the mosaic slime (the prettiest slime!) and the tangle slime.  Be sure to capture a few to take back to the ranch.  There are also some new plants--the silver parsnip and the prickle pear--that grow exclusively in the Glass Desert.  Oh, and be careful because the Glass Desert is subject to periodic fire storms that can cause damage to you but also contain another type of new slime--the fire slime.

My little ranch has grown into a sprawling complex filled with every variety of slimes, plenty of different foods, and a few cute little gadgets.  With the addition of the 7ZEE rewards club there are numerous rewards to work toward--some are cosmetic but others add special items.  I will definitely be spending some time down on the ol' slime ranch.

Punishment
Last week I wrote about the addition of Cook, Serve, Delicious 2 to my library.  It got off to a little bit of a rocky start with a release that wasn't quite finished.  Now, as I have played a little bit more, I am feeling a little conflicted about this newest addition.  I loved the original CSD and was so excited to hear that there was going to be a second iteration of cooking madness.  I'm just not quite sure that CSD2 is living up to the original.

I'm still not completely certain about what the entire purpose of the "cook for hire" challenges are.  It's very obvious that a lot of effort went into designing these numerous unique restaurants and challenges.  I enjoy the fact that there are so many interesting restaurants with cute backstories but why exactly am I playing them?  Sure, you get money and it's a way to build experience, but beyond that...it just doesn't feel as connected to the original premise of creating your restaurant and building it from the ground up.

I haven't spent any time playing in my own restaurant in CSD2--maybe I need to make myself break away from the repetitive C4H challenges, but I just feel really compelled to keep playing them.  along with that there's the whole reward system--to earn the coveted gold medal on each reward requires a perfect day.  Perfect days are easily doable in the first few days in a C4H restaurant but are extremely difficult at levels with more items on the menu and more buzz.  I wish I could say that earning these coveted medals is fun, but often they are a huge chore that requires you to play the same day over and over.  I've been struggling to tell myself that there is really no reason to try to attain a gold on every level.  I wish it was a little bit more fun to go back and earn those golds.

Chubigans, the sole developer has promised to add more features that fans have been asking for.  many of those features--like e-mail and unique daily events--should be added in a large update in October.  I'm hoping that these additions will make CSD2 feel closer to the original.

Back in the Kitchen with Cook, Serve, Delicious 2

For some reason I have a weird fondness for food games.  I have no idea where the desire to play cooking sims comes from...I hardly cook for myself.  That's why I was extremely surprised at how much I enjoyed the self-proclaimed "hard core restaurant sim" Cook, Serve, Delicious.  I've logged 52 hours of button mashing, food prepping madness in the original and was pumped when I heard that a second CSD was on the way.  Now that Cook, Serve, Delicious 2 has landed I have found myself frantically trying to prepare orders, do chores, and keep my patrons from angrily storming out of my restaurant.

So far I've only had time to spend a few hours with CSD 2, so there's a good chance that I haven't stumbled upon all the new features.  I can report that the gameplay is largely unchanged--it's still a whirlwind of pushing the perfect button combos as speedily as you can.  What has changed are some of the restaurant features.  Instead of simply having a few prep stations (...a few means 8 or 9) you also have "holding stations" that allow you to partially prep some food and then keep it ready for any customers who come in--basically the food is already cooked and you just have to finish throwing it all together.  Or, for foods that require no prep (like simple dishes--chicken nuggets, tater tots, etc.) you will have those automatically available (in a limited quantity).  Holding stations are great for hectic rush hour times--you can move people who want simple foods through quickly and focus on those that require more steps.  The downside is that it's another set of stations that demand your attention.  If you don't pay attention to the quantities left, you can be left high and dry during a rush hour and have to completely divert your attention away from filling orders in order to restock.

A tiny fragment of the foods to purchase.  Yummy!

The sheer quantity of different types of food in the game is impressive--soups, breakfast foods, drinks, entrees, side dishes...there has to be over 100.  Not only that, but the food looks absolutely delicious.  I think CSD 2 is the only game that makes me hungry while I am playing it.  I can usually feel myself salivating more while I play--the art style for the food is that realistic.

One big change that seems to have many CSD players divided is the campaign system.  Players have a choice to either start off in their own bare bones restaurant and run it or to play one of the many "cook for hire" (C4H) scenarios where they can choose to work in a certain restaurant.  Each C4H restaurant has specific number of challenges that increase in difficulty as you progress.  Players earn experience from these scenarios and can also unlock special items that can be used to decorate their own restaurants.  As players gain experience they earn both levels and "stars."  With increasing levels and stars more items to decorate your restaurant become available and players unlock more C4H restaurants.

Some of the unique restaurants in "cook for hire."

I started with C4H because I was initially confused about what I was supposed to be doing.  The C4H menu is large and filled with a giant array of different restaurants--the one little button for your own restaurant seems bland compared to the sprawling menu of other places to work.  C4H is a great place to start--you can gain some experience, learn how to use holding stations, unlock items, and start earning some cash to flesh out the pantry for your own restaurant.  Each day at one of the C4H restaurants offers different levels of rewards (bronze, silver, and gold)  based off the number of bad or average orders.  To earn a gold medal you must have a perfect day...this can be tougher than it sounds.

I've enjoyed messing around in the various C4H restaurants but I will admit that it feels odd not to be in my own restaurant.  I know that I could be doing it, but the C4H restaurants just look so dang interesting.  The feeling of being in your own restaurant and growing it from a grubby, no-stars slob-fest into a lobster serving, luxury palace is completely gone.  What was the focus of the original game seems to be an uninteresting side quest in CSD 2.  This is particularly sad because there are some neat design functions that allow players to personalize their restaurant with items that they unlock along the way.

My current restaurant design.  Eclectic, maybe?

Another point of contention with some players has been the fact that the game was released in an unfinished state.  Most of the unfinished aspects of the game were fairly minor (no mouse support for menus) but there were a few that were slightly miffing--a half-finished set of tutorials, missing prices for food, a buzz system that wasn't working, no listed food detractors.  The developer--literally one guy--has promised to polish up the rough edges and fix any issues that come to light.

Even with these launch issues I've been having fun testing out the many new foods and C4H restaurants.  I've unlocked a tsunami of items and have designed my own restaurant into a bizarre combination of odd art and wood flooring.  Mostly I'm learning the even tougher task of prepping foods with many, many more items and balancing the numerous prep and holding stations.

It's possible that you will read some negative reviews based around the unfinished state that the game was released in.  It is a little frustrating that the game wasn't completely finished on release, but once it is finished it promises to be a food filled adventure that is on-par or even better than the original.  For only $12.99 there is sooooo much cooking to do.

UPDATE 9/18/17:  Many of the issues that were present upon release have been fixed.  There is now mouse support in the main menus and the missing prices buzz and food detractors has been fixed.  Chubigans has promised to continue working to fix and add more to the game.