The Wii has
seen its fair share of cooking-themed games, and with good reason. The art of
food preparation is universal, its importance unquestionable, its enjoyability…
well, somewhat debatable. In truth, cooking can become a bit of a chore. Fast
Food Panic attempts to inject some adrenaline into a normally mundane activity,
by placing the player in the shoes of a restaurant entrepreneur. It is less a
simulation of an actual restaurant, and more of a mini-game buffet that covers
everything from grilling burgers to scrubbing dishes.
The
multiplayer modes allow up to four players to participate, and having additional
players is always a good idea for these frantic episodes. Single-player sessions
will still allow you to switch off from one role to the next, however. If you’re
getting sick of dealing with customers and decide you’d rather cower behind the
counter flipping burgers, you can do so instantly with a press of the trigger
button. The tasks themselves are nicely varied, and role-cycling offers the
player some degree of pacing control, which is nice when things become frantic.
Fast Food
Panic will try to guide you through each task with text tutorials;
unfortunately, the game doesn’t seem to pause automatically when you’re reading
through it. Luckily, they aren’t terribly complicated. Burger construction uses
“doneness” bars to indicate the readiness of each component. Patties and buns
must be flipped only when they’ve reached the red “done” threshold; as you might
expect, waiting too long will result in a burnt item, which means you’ll need to
start over and spend even more time completing the order. The dishes are
appropriately consistent with the fast-food theme, focusing on American classics
like pancakes, ice cream, and pizza, each of which requires its own unique bit
of skill mastery.
Each
completed round offers a total score, as well as a letter grade ranking. There
are also mini-games separate from the story, which allow you to quickly jump in
and out of anything you might be in the mood for. Among these, one of the most
memorable is a game called “Glutton.” This is essentially a food-eating contest,
which sees the player scrambling to cut and consume an entire steak as quickly
as possible. The Wii-mote makes a somewhat intuitive interface for this process,
though I’m not sure who got the idea that manually “chewing” the steak with
certain maneuvers on the controller was a great idea.
Even under
optimal playing conditions, Fast Food Panic does suffer from the party game’s
most common flaw: monotony. The weaving, uppity score only heightens this sense
of aggravation, lending the sense that you are trapped in this restaurant
workspace and any activity has the potential to frustrate you. Performing the
tasks at a heightened pace does not actually make things more fun, but rather,
hastens exhaustion. The cutesy-anime style graphics may bolster the appeal to
younger audiences, but even they will likely find Fast Food Panic quickly
develops into Fast Food Boredom.
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Gameplay: 6.0
Some clever
mechanics integrate food service and preparation techniques into frantic
gameplay sessions, but they become tiresome far too quickly.
Graphics: 5.5
Bright and lively
characters appear slightly rough around the edges, and the tasks are sometimes
muddled with cluttered workspace areas.
Sound: 5.0
I’m not sure what
accent some of these characters possess, but the music is the main irritation.
More variety is needed.
Difficulty: Medium
Awkward
introductions and hurried gameplay. Very young players may struggle to withstand
the heat of this kitchen.
Concept: 5.0
Much of it sounds
good on paper, but we’ve seen all these things done before – often with better
success.
Multiplayer: 6.0
Like any decent
party game, the sessions get better when more people are involved. Getting
everyone to grasp the techniques as quickly as possible will either become a
hilarious or infuriating experience.
Overall: 6.0
Fast Food Panic
will likely appeal more to young players than real cooks, as the skills aren’t
terribly authentic and the gameplay is far too repetitive. At best, it is a
short-term diversion for casual party game lovers.
