SAVOR THE FLAVOR OF STRESSFUL SUCCESS
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After a 10-hour playthrough of this game, I've come to better appreciate the hard
work behind the culinary arts. For instance, did you know that chefs have to
put up with horrible kitchen layouts, forcing them to toss ingredients to one another (that often miss and hit the floor)? Did you know they only have
about a handful of minutes to finish more than a handful of orders? Did you
know their kitchens were located on hot air balloons in the sky, or on rafts in
strong currents, or in magical castles where the already hazardous working
conditions might suddenly transform before their eyes?
The Overcooked! brand shines a light on the harsh working conditions behind
those succulent flavors you savor. The overworked kitchen staff doesn't get
paid nearly enough. After all, they might fall off their cramped platforms to
their death far below, or drown in the rivers. They might get stuck in
alien worlds, or get engulfed in the blaze of overcooked meat catching
fire, because access to the stove magically got sealed off.
Unpretentiously titled Overcooked! 2, this sequel (made by
Ghost Town Games) makes no qualms about being the same thing on repeat.
You and (hopefully) at least one co-op partner must work together to finish and serve
a bunch of orders before time runs out. Different ingredients require
different preparations. For instance, lettuce only needs chopping, and rice
only needs boiling, whereas chicken needs to be both chopped and deep fried.
Later levels introduce more advanced recipies, like cakes, that require a lot
of time and preparations before serving.
The game basics remain intact, meaning you and your buddy/buddies (the game
allows up to four-player co-op) get thrown totally unprepared into unfamiliar
environments. You get your orders on the top of the screen, then run around
the kitchen in top-down view trying to make heads or tails of what to do. It's
an arcade puzzler dependent on communcation, and the great level design
centers around that need. Keep talking and work together towards a maximum three star rating.
Keep quiet and you're almost guaranteed to get none.
Much of the fun stems from trial-and-error, of methodically working out a way
to distribute the tasks among you. Will you focus on completing different
orders? Or will you cooperate to finish every order as quickly as possible?
And who will tend to the dishes? How can you assist your mates while the meat
is frying? As the level progresses, the conditions might change and you must
alter the responsibilities on the fly. It is even more stressful than it
sounds, to the point that you sometimes just drop the controller, hands
shaking, and give up.
The intuitive controls and mechanics remain much the same from the first game,
making it quick and painless to get into again (although the Switch joycons totally suck). The game only changes the
finer print, replacing some smaller, interchangeable nuisances (rats and ghosts, maybe?) with others (fireballs and customers, maybe?).
Some levels have brand new themes, but you'd be hard pressed to notice them -
it's easy to disregard the cosmetics when the layout is the important
thing.
In terms of difficulty, the level design philosophy remains pretty much the same, but seems to come
with more forgiving score requirements. This causes less frustrations, but
also less triumphant celebration. I still remember winning the final boss of the first
Overcooked!, along with my brother, in our 10th(-ish) attempt, with literally
one second to spare of the fifteen minute stage. That was one of the most glorious moments of my gaming
life, and we shared a few more moments like that.
In the sequel, however, we cleared the disappointing final stage in but our second attempt with some margin. We could even have made it in our first, had the game not
started to glitch out and act erratically, refusing me to interact with one
half-prepared meal.
And I remember the first game being optimized towards two player co-operation.
This time around however, some of the busier story levels seem designed specifically around three or four player co-op - especially the ones that require someone
to open gates and steer platforms back and forth. You can still clear those
levels, but for a higher score an extra set of hands seems almost required.
Although the visual design looks simple, cute and cartoony, the levels are sometimes
busy with distracting details. Some of them remind me of the visual
overload of the re-released original trilogy of Star Wars-movies, where added
CGI-aliens would distract from what's going on, and sometimes even cover
the entire screen. This causes unnecessary strain when important stuff - like ingredient icons and cooking tools - are comparatively small and hard to
make out.
The story is also weak, but it's better that way. You must save the Onion
Kingdom from the undead forces of "The Unbread", accidentally summoned after
the Onion King read a passage from the "Necro-nom-nomicon". In hindsight, I
am not sure how your cooking relates to the halting of the zombie horde, but
that is part of the cringeworthy charm - they've created a story based on some
silly pun and that's enough. If the players only want more gameplay, you give them
that and never mind the bollocks.
This is how sequels were perceived in the past. The first game was an
experiment. For every subsequent entry, repeat what works and remove any
annoyance to make it better. Gameplay rules, especially when enjoyed in the
company of likeminded people. The story is inconsequential, and the important narrative
revolves around the cheers, arguments and bonding that comes from jolly
co-operation. At its best, your finest moments become like fishing stories.
Overcooked! 2 is too easy and too familiar to create many cherished moments like that for
seasoned players. But it's a splendid game to gather family and friends around
on extended reunions, like boring holidays or vacations. Or
maybe the teamwork-based gameplay could strengthen the bonds between
struggling couples? Overcooked! 2:s cartoony artstyle might make it seem
targeted towards kids, but I bet superannuated old gamers, who have lost their
spark, might find even more to celebrate in simple-yet-hard retro-flavored delights like this.
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