Overcooked! All You Can Eat Review

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Overcooked! All You Can Eat

Developer: Ghost Town Games, Team 17
Publisher: Team 17
Website: www.team17.com/games/overcooked-all-you-can-eat/
Genre: Simulation, Strategy, Multiplayer, Party
Platform: Nintendo Switch (Also available on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC)
Age Rating: PEGI 3
Release Date: 23/03/2021
Price: £29.99

A code was provided for review purposes.

Introduction

Overcooked! All You Can Eat is a party game for 1-4 players. It includes both Overcooked and Overcooked 2, as well as a little additional content. Tasked with receiving a certain level of income, players will attempt to prepare food while the kitchen and other chefs cause chaos around them. Prepare to test your friendships before entering the kitchens in Overcooked! All You Can Eat.

Master Chefs Required!

The stories featured in Overcooked! All You Can Eat are not compelling by themselves. They are used as plot devices to motivate the players through the levels. The story progresses through dialogue boxes and occasional cutscenes. Though not impactful, the narrative works to establish the premise and encourages the player to improve their cooking skills. Overall, the story serves its purpose and immerses the player in Onion Kingdom.

Get the Recipe Book

The gameplay offered in Overcooked! All You Can Eat is the most substantial aspect of the overall package. This title features the campaigns for both Overcooked games, as well as the downloadable content and some additional stages. Grill through over 75 levels with your closest friends in Overcooked! All You Can Eat.

The gameplay is simple in concept but challenging to master. Players must learn to cook various dishes such as hamburgers, burritos, and even sushi and will need to master culinary techniques like cutting produce, putting pizza in the oven, and mixing cake batter. The variety of foods in addition to the methods of cooking will keep players guessing throughout each level. Not only do players need to focus on completing the orders, but each order is timed, encouraging rapid gameplay and multi-tasking. As if this were not already overwhelming enough, failing to manage items properly will cause disarray throughout the kitchen. For example, burning a burger will not only burn the burger, but it will cause a fire that spreads to surrounding areas. Surmounting the difficulties encountered in the kitchen is challenging. Luckily, players can face these challenges alongside their closest friends.

Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen

Sharing the struggle with friends makes the game more surmountable and enjoyable. Players can play the campaign, as well as versus and cooperative modes, providing variety in the styles of gameplay. Playing with multiple people requires players to delegate tasks and communicate with each other. This adds another level of strategy to the game, making it more about communication and less about technical skill. The focus on communication and the lack of complex inputs makes this game accessible, and an excellent choice for including unskilled players. Though the game is playable in single-player, it is most enjoyable when played with additional people.

Baby’s First Meal

Overcooked! All You Can Eat is extremely accessible, providing simple tutorials and ensuring players will understand the content. When introducing a new item, the developers include text that describes the item and how to produce it. While this serves as a tutorial, the game then gives the player unlimited time to produce their first dish, ensuring that they understand how to make the item before making the level hectic.

Constellation Cooking

In addition to teaching the player the required strategies, the game does not force players to complete every level perfectly before proceeding. The game uses a star system, awarding players based on the amount of income they generate throughout the level. New levels are unlocked after all previous levels are beaten, and if the pre-requisite quantity of stars is collected. Players are never required to collect every star on each level, and they can attempt every level without perfecting every level before. Though some players may need to revisit old levels to earn additional stars to progress, the star system was an innovative way to challenge skilled players while allowing less skilled players to progress.

To ensure three stars, players will need to comprehend all capabilities provided to the character. They can dash in both Overcooked games. In Overcooked 2, the players are even allowed to throw raw ingredients. These abilities do not establish a large skill ceiling, but the implementation of advanced techniques ensure that the players do not get tiresome. Dashing also introduces risk. Dashing propels the player forward but inhibits their control for a limited time. Moreover, dashing into another player will bump them, and potentially irritate other players. Learning how to master these skills is not required to complete the levels, but the implementation of these techniques offer compelling gameplay to more experienced players.

Kitchen Layout

Each level is handcrafted and unique with its own gimmick. The creativity of the developers shines through each level and players must navigate portals in haunted mansions, icy rivers, and even hot air balloon rides. While each level is designed well, at times difficulty spikes occurred whilst earning stars and this was significantly more challenging than on other levels. This did not happen too frequently but will discourage some players from mastering each level, especially if they were performing well on the prior levels. Additionally, at times the character would glitch, falling out of bounds, getting stuck in walls, or dropping food through the bottom of the floor. This did not happen frequently, but when it did happen, it was extremely frustrating because of how frantic the game is. Although burdened by a few technical issues, the level design was good and Overcooked! All You Can Eat performed well.

Stop Chewing so Loudly!

The sound design in Overcooked! All You Can Eat was good. The soundtrack was nothing standout. However, the soundtrack was catchy and fit the theme of the game. On the contrary, the sound effects were extremely satisfying. The aggressive beeping when something is finished cooking adds to the chaos but serves the player with valuable information. The sound design keeps the player immersed in the game.

 One for the Instagram?

 The visuals of overcooked are also aesthetically pleasing. There are visual indicators for when food is done cooking, labels on the boxes of ingredients, and adorable chefs. The player can select from a large selection, and the developers were very inclusive when designing the chefs. Chefs are from a variety of ethnicities and age groups. They even included animal chefs! While the visuals are good, there are occasional visual glitches in Overcooked. Overall, the visuals were excellent apart from these minor glitches.

Conclusion

All in all, Overcooked! All You Can Eat is an excellent party game due to the accessibility and unique levels. There were some minor glitches, but excellent design reinforces the value that this game brings to the table. Though £29.99 is a steep price for an indie game, there is a large amount of content here, especially if players intend to return to the game with new groups of friends. I enjoyed my time with Overcooked! All You Can Eat.

Rapid Reviews Rating

4 out of 5

4

You can purchase Overcooked! All You Can Eat on the Nintendo eShop here