Sometimes over the course of this series, I feel like that slowpoke meme. I, years after everyone else, am going to point to a game and say, “Hey everyone, this is actually really good.” There are some who might not see a value in pointing this out years after the fact, but personally? I am absolutely delighted every time I fall in love with an older game. It, in its own odd way, validates this entire project, and reminds me that things don’t have to be shiny and new to still be valuable.

Every day is a perfect day when there’s good food involved.

Cook, Serve, Delicious! is a restaurant simulation and management game with what I like to call tactile elements. The player runs a restaurant, building it from a small hole in the wall in an office tower to a thriving five star experience. The player manages the menu, takes on additional tasks and chores, and above all, cooks and serves meals to impatient customers.

This cooking element is the true meat of the game, and provides the tactile experience. Each recipe requires the player to cook it using a variety of keyboard (or mouse, I suppose, if you’re a masochist) inputs in a precise order. While this seems simple enough, as the game’s pace gets faster and faster, these keyboard inputs and placing a check on muscle memory become more and more challenging.

“Cooking!”

This game loop of designing a menu, serving it, and reinvesting makes up the bulk of the game. While there are small side events here and there and a betting mechanic that forces a bit more tension, the challenge of the game isn’t necessarily in the decisions the player makes to design their restaurant. Instead, the challenge of the game is keeping up with orders and serving them correctly. As simple as this sounds, the frantic pace and sheer satisfaction that comes from raising the perfection streak is addictive. It is deeply satisfying to watch meal after meal rumble out of the kitchen and listen to the satisfied monching sounds of customers on their way back out to their lives.

Some of these lives include a beer at 9.40AM, but I’m not here to judge.

This is not to say the game can’t get repetitive. While the recipes may vary, and the steps to serve food may change, the fundamental elements do not. If the process of frantically smashing buttons to make and serve food gets tedious, the game falls apart. Progression is based on the number of days that pass, meaning it can take a long time for a player to earn a star, regardless of how well their restaurant is doing. The game proceeds slowly, even as the individual rounds zip by.

However, the slow progression doesn’t detract from the fundamental joy of slinging plates at people and watching numbers tick up. More than anything, Cook, Serve, Delicious! is a game about living in and enjoying the moment, whether it be fast-paced or calmer. It is a deeply satisfying experience, and one I keep coming back to.

Plus, it’s about food, and who doesn’t love a good food game?

Developer: Vertigo Gaming

Genre: Simulation, Management, Tactile

Year: 2012

Country: United States

Language: English

Play Time: 20-30 Hours

Youtube: https://youtu.be/fCEPsVXFwRQ