PARENT REVIEW

The first Overcooked game, released July of 2017 brought fun and food into many homes. It also brought me calluses on my thumbs and a sore-ish throat from making so much noise!

Overcooked is a cooperative game played with 2-4 people where you must cook and serve meals in outlandish landscapes in very short timeframes. It has multiple levels that increase in difficulty–thus the sore throat. You must communicate clearly and quickly with your fellow cooks/teammates or can’t advance to the next level.

The first Overcooked was a challenge, and perhaps that’s why I found Overcooked: All You Can Eat, a much easier game. Perhaps the developers realized they “bit off more than they can chew” with some of the particularly puzzling and complicated “kitchens” in certain levels.

Despite the challenge, the Overcooked games are a lot of fun. Overcooked: All You Can Eat revamps the first and second Overcooked Games and crams it with lots of different chef characters and bonus arcade levels.

Overcooked are great family games that force you to work together and talk–a lot. We played it with our kid and enjoyed ourselves. Although I would say that young children, or newer gamers may struggle with the mobility and strategies required to play well.

Overcooked: All You Can Eat is rated E for everyone and has no violence, except for the many times my chef character “died” walking off a cliff or falling into lava!

FUN FACTOR 8 OUT OF 10

Overcooked is a great game to play with family and friends. The strength of these games generally is the stories you tell along with your teammates as you play. There are plenty of memories I will forever have of playing this game with my family.

Because of this, a lot of co-op centric games don’t really appeal to the more “hardcore” gaming community, as they tend to be of lesser quality on gameplay and riddled with bugs. Overcooked is not one of these games. The gameplay mechanics of Overcooked are fairly tight and intuitive. The designers planned around the user experience when setting the challenges and it is masterfully executed. Playing both campaigns there was only one very small moment in which I shouted out “This is poorly designed!”.

The story is serviceable and quirky, very fitting with the game. The graphic and sound design are perfect for the style of game it is. I sometimes still hum the music as I am cooking for my family.

As far as co-op games goes it is a top contender. Fun gameplay and challenges.