Sushi Go-Round

When you think of Miniclip, the first thing that pops to mind these days (if you spend inordinate amounts of time online) is browser-based web games. In fact, Sushi Go-Round is almost identical to their web-based version, which you can try out here. Or you could download the $.99 iPhone game.

Sushi Go-Round, in case you didn’t click the link and try it out for yourself, is a speed-based game where players must supply customers at a sushi restaurant with all of their orders in as timely a fashion as possible. The longer clients wait for their food, the less satisfied they get until they eventually leave. Your job is to feed them by making different types of sushi using six main ingredients. With about ten different types of sushi available, it’s all about getting the right food made quickly, keeping the customers happy, and making sure you have a steady supply of ingredients.

Managing the restaurant is a lot to handle, especially on harder levels where you can get up to six clients at once all asking for different types of sushi. Suddenly, one ingredient runs dry and you have to make a phone call to get more while customers are waiting. A major element of Sushi Go-Round is figuring out the most economical way of feeding everyone at the sushi bar while spending the least amount of money.

That means serving everyone quickly, ordering new ingredients ahead of time for free, instead of instant shipments for pay, when to serve sake to customers losing their tempers, and doing it all at once. It becomes a very hectic work environment, not much different from a real restaurant.

Two play modes, story and rush, both task you with managing the sushi bar, but story mode is focused on earning a certain amount of yen. Rush is a never-ending onslaught of customers until one gets fed up and leaves. It takes upwards of 10 minutes before the climax even kicks in, and often 30 minutes for a full game, which really kills the portability aspect of Sushi Go-Round on the iPhone.

Sushi Go-Round demands a lot from players, but is not rewarding. For a long car ride it’s better than playing Sudoku over and over again, but if you need to burn five minutes, skip it. This title requires a long time no matter which gametype you play, and it’s fairly mediocre even at that. The monotony of getting to the fast sections, followed by easy mistakes due to the touchscreen controls, typically leads to frustration, not enjoyment.

But, if you wish your iPhone could play flash games, or maybe if you go on very long car rides constantly and need to kill upwards of 30 minutes at a time, there are worse things you could do than serve sushi to unruly customers..