With Summer now fully kicking in, it’s not uncommon for many of us to hit the roads and airstrips, beaches and bungalows for some much-needed r & r. We often bring along our favorite gaming devices to help pass the time away while melting in the sun or sipping a chilled beer on a balcony during a Florida night. It’s a great opportunity to throw down a Mario Kart race, grind for loot in Dragon Quest, or run through a few tournament fights in Street Fighter Alpha. These are somewhat mindless, almost instinctive game playthroughs that don’t leave us worried about missing a storyline twist or emotional connection, falling into that “pick up and play” category of gaming.
Order Up!! for the Nintendo 3DS falls firmly into that category, providing a great short-play experience that fits neatly in a pocket, ready to take out while waiting for dinner at The Wagon Wheel to be served. Thanks to some charming aspects, it won’t become too tedious or boring, and has enough of a hook to keep us along.
This isn’t the first time that Order Up!! has been around. It’s actually a port of the Wii version of the game, which released 4 years ago. The PS3 version also released recently, as did one for iOS platforms. Each version offers roughly the same game, with the addition of a few new aesthetic enhancements and mini games in the recent editions. One interesting note: this is the first full retail game to be offered on the 3DS’ eShop, beating New Super Mario Bros 2 by a full two months. In fact, the actual boxed copy of Order Up!! doesn’t release until August.
In broadest terms, Order Up!! is a restaurant tycoon sim that includes a mix of cooking and time management. Like others in the cooking genre before it, it utilizes motions to simulate flipping and rolling, cooking and frying various foods and meals. Using the touch screen feels fairly natural, and the game doesn’t overdo it with a plethora of confusing motions, keeping the actions on the lower screen separate from the animation and visuals in the upper. In fact, it relies more on managing the amount of food created during a set period of time rather than perfecting numerous ways to cook it.
It’s what you’d expect from a cooking game’s motion or touch controls, with little in the way of surprises. It can get a little repetitive, especially with the relatively low amount of menu items and motions.
Order Up!! isn’t just about the cooking, focusing its more novel aspects on the business simulation side. The goal of the game is to become a restaurant tycoon, and fueled by my recent forays into Pocket Planes and Tiny Towers I’m oddly compelled to own every available square inch of the map. If the game had mafia aspects to it, I’d bust enough food critic kneecaps to get the maximum stars in my restaurant reviews. Unfortunately, I have to settle for buying recipes on the black market, understanding which customers like which spices, and upgrading and buying more restaurants.
Just because it’s appeared on other platforms doesn’t mean that Order Up!! suffers in any real way visually, either. Thanks to the great art style and audio, the game’s visuals hold up extremely well, even on the 3DS’ diminutive screen. It can best be described as cell-shaded art that feels like it belongs on late-90s Nickelodeon alongside Ren & Stimpy, providing both a quirky style and almost sadistic character personalities. The patrons and wait staff are kind of like giant, bizarro lima beans with stick hands and buck teeth. All of them seem like they’ve fallen off of the back of a pickup truck or have eaten a lot of lead paint in their lives, and their various giggle-worthy personalities match. It’s actually pretty charming, even 4 years after it debuted on the Wii.
The only noteworthy 3DS exclusive feature is the 3D effect and it isn’t all that special, as the depth of the game is only about 2-3 feet in front of the vantage point. There aren’t any Streetpass or Spotpass features in the game, which is a shame because there could be opportunity for some great recipe-sharing or asynchronous competitive play with friends.
I just wish that there was a bit more to this game than being a slightly updated port from the Wii or PS3 versions. There is still a lot to do in Order Up!!, and its $9.99 price tag isn’t back breaking on the 3DS, even though there is a free iOS version to try. Being able to play the game’s “days” in short sittings is perfect for Summer trips, and the art style and characters are charming enough to pick up the game just to see. Besides, how often will we get the chance to give an angry customer a heaping helping of fiery hot spicy food just to shut them up?
This review is based on a review code for the game sent to SideQuesting by UTV Ignition.
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