Team17 and Ghost Town Games have released Overcooked for Xbox One, PS4 & PC.
The cooking simulation game thrust players into the dark times of the Onion Kingdom which is facing annihilation from a hungry beast. Since the ever peckish is now awoken--it is up to your team of chefs to feed his never-ending hunger. The eerie soundtrack and exquisite visuals really set the mood for the intensely timed gameplay.
In order to satisfy the beast, you control two chefs who must follow the commands at the top of the screen. You will use the L1 button on your controller to switch between them while chopping and preparing salads for the giant spaghetti and meatball-looking monster. However, you soon find that your cooking skills are not up to par, and the Onion King will take you into the time portal to the year 1993. It is here that you will travel to hone your skills and master the ancient art of cooking.
In order to prevent the devastation of the future, your chefs jump into a yellow school bus to travel around the map and complete levels. I quickly found this game is much easier with a co-op friend to help you out because switching between the two chefs can get annoying after a bit. You will travel to various kitchens were you will complete dishes that become more complex with each new level. Your chefs must chop up the right ingredients, cook and serve it to your customers. And don't forget to clean up afterwards! You will get tips for good service and at the end your star rating will be based on the orders delivered, tips collected and failed orders.
Overcooked gets more challenging as time goes on as you will be required to complete more dishes with a various of obstacles trying to slow you down. You also have to watch out for overcooking your food and ruining everything you worked so hard to make. There are nearly 30 mission campaigns to complete and the ability to improve your star level on each one really adds a high degree of replayability to the game. The layouts of the kitchens alongside the obstacles and difficulty change with each new campaign. However, you soon learn the disadvantages of having too many cooks in the kitchen!
In the end, Overcooked is a fun game but only when played with 2-4 players. If you try to play Overcooked alone then it becomes almost impossible. Another big downfall of the game is that it doesn't have online play, and unless you have three buddies who love cooking simulation games like yourself, then it can be almost impossible to gather a team of chefs. The game's intrinsic level design, beautiful graphics and mood setting soundtrack are indeed the cooking game's saving grace. So if you ever dreamed of being a chef taking on a futuristic spaghetti monster, then Overcooked might just be for you!
Reviewed for PS4