wolverinaz's Profile
Stat Summary
- Average Rating:3.8
- Helpful Votes:10
- Reviews Submitted:5
- First Review:February 11, 2012
- Most Recent Review:May 12, 2022
- Featured reviews0
wolverinaz's Review History
Travel with the O'Malleys as they take a trip down Route 66 in Emily's next time management adventure!
Overall rating
3
/
5
Fun but with a lot of balancing issues
PostedMay 12, 2022
wolverinaz
fromLiverpool
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Time Management
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
The Delicious series is my all-time favourite for time-management games, and the gameplay mechanics, storyline and visuals are excellent as always, but I do unfortunately feel that this is a lower than average entry into the series compared to the previous titles
I'll start with it's positives which are the visuals and cutscenes, where character models are showing a particularly high-array of poses and animations making the scenes more visually interesting and alive. It's story does not stagnate in the continuing character development of the O'Malley's and shows that Emily and her family still have more stories to tell and experiences to go through
The gameplay loop is satisfying and clean as usual and sporting a variety of challenges, with levels 2 and 4 being the best in my opinion, although they are not perfect and have a few pitfalls resulting in a few issues within this game
The games downfall is it's bugs and major balancing issues. It feels as if the last two chapters were rushed and were incredibly bare-bones and easy compared to levels 2-4, with level 4 being the absolute hardest out of all of them. I play on expert mode which is usually the most fun and gratifying to achieve max stars, but the balancing issues and wildly varying levels of difficulty can be quite disappointing. Level 1 is a solid tutorial chapter and level 2 is one of it's best. Although level 2 is not overwhelming, it's later days and daily challenge levels have a freakishly high 3 star target that requires a 100% optimization of combos to a degree far above any other level in the game, even it's final chapters.
Level 3 sees a massive spike in difficulty, and is admittedly moreso frustrating than fun and challenging. Chapter 4 is exceedingly more difficult but fun. A single mistake in an order can ruin your entire run of the day and it can take many tries to earn all 3 stars, and is very satisfying when you do
Unfortunately the remaining levels 5 and 6 are a massive downgrade, and they feel like tutorial levels as they are far too easy for late stage chapters. There is next to no challenge and the gameplay doesn't require tactful combo's to achieve full stars, and you will find yourself over-achieving in scores across many of the days. There are noticeable fewer products, both standard, restock and timer, available in contrast to Chapter 4
Another issue with balancing are the product upgrades. On some of the levels there is a product that is rarely ever ordered, but has an absurdly high serving requirement in order to upgrade. To upgrade all products in full to get the trophy and 100% the game, it's required to play the levels countless times due to how rarely a specific product is ordered, and you can repeat days in a row without serving it once. The level 2 menu and level 6 bun with raisins is the worst offender of this, with the raisin bun requiring 45 servings to upgrade which you won't even get close to after beating every single day in the chapter at least once.
There are a few minor bugs with a chapter 4 challenge needing to be completed twice in order to earn it's stars, and a table in chapter 5's later days that bugs out and randomly stops being used, forcing a group of customers to almost always storm out at the start of the level. Although still fun, this contributes to the game feeling a bit rushed and there is evidence of some of the levels having their challenges tweaked and gameplay altered from an earlier version of the game, but this isn't really an issue
Overall it is still a lot of fun to play and has the addictive gameplay loop that the Delicious series excels at, but it is however one of the series's weaker titles with it's underwhelming final levels and minor quality of life issues
It's still worth playing and continues the Delicious storyline very well, but is definitely not as enjoyable as Emily's other games, and Mom's V Dads and Honeymoon Cruise are still noticeably better titles
I recommend this game!
Open up Cake Shops around the world as you expand your global empire in this fast-paced Time Management game!
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Best in the trilogy
PostedOctober 12, 2019
wolverinaz
fromLiverpool
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Time Management
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
Off the bat, I'll admit the visuals are much to be desired. However, they are quite amusing to look at, especially the customer models of each location. There was clearly a lot of fun put behind making each Cafe unique to the country and culture it was set in, and the result was somewhat comical and colourful with bizarre character models of culturally recognisable caricatures
The gameplay was the same as the previous two games in the Cake shop series, and quite fun in it's unusual way. There was a massive improvement over the shopping and upgrade mechanics than in the last game, offering a far, far greater variety of choice in which upgrades you purchased to add to your Cafe's. Despite accumulating a ton of wealth again by the time I completed it, money still had a lot of value in the form of what you could choose to buy - this goes for Cafe floor upgrades, or renovations and improvements to the exterior itself. I regularly found myself running out of money to buy things which gave me incentive to keep playing and try harder, even all the way up to the endgame
I would have kept playing and fully upgraded each location, however completing the very last level seemed to break the game. I don't know if this was a glitch, or the intended ending, but once I finished it, I could not leave the very last level. I couldn't upgrade my Cafe anymore with renovations, play in any of the previous locations or upgrade those either. Trying to renovate the sister Cafe's left me with a blank upgrade list, and trying to select a level took me right back to the ending one. I don't know if this was intentional or broken, but it was very disappointing
Despite this, I'm happy to play the game again to see if this happens on my next completion, and to just experience the gameplay once again. With the wider variety of freedom to improve your Cafe with new machines and services, the game is a lot of fun and can offer a fresh experience by choosing which upgrades to buy. Overall, quite a positive experience
I recommend this game!
Overall rating
4
/
5
1 of 1 found this review helpful
Surprisingly fun
PostedOctober 12, 2019
wolverinaz
fromLiverpool
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Time Management
Fun Factor
4
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
3
/
5
Level of Challenge
4
/
5
Storyline
3
/
5
With the series unusual game mechanics, I found myself really enjoying playing this game, and although I don't particularly care for the CG models, the overall visual design was quite pleasant and especially the drawn art of the main character. The difficulty was sufficiently challenging, however the reward system for your gameplay wasn't very satisfying. How much you managed to earn in each day became redundant, as did shopping for upgrades. You were only allowed to purchase an upgrade or new item when the game allowed you to, and you could choose only one from a selection of three. You also could not choose to forgo purchasing anything. Money became meaningless as you could afford anything and everything due to this, and you end up accumulating a massive amount of wealth that only gets spent at the very end of the game - when you choose a holiday package to see an ending screen of Emily on holiday.That was particularly quite frustrating and did not feel rewarding in any way, as you never got to utilise the profits from your hard work. I managed to earn an expert level for every single day and so purchased the most expensive package out of the three available, and I still only got a screen of Emily on holiday before the game ended. I don't know what the ending would be like if I purchased the other two, but I suspect it'll be slight variations of the same ending cutscene, which in my opinion, again makes your hard work meaningless and unrewarding
Despite this, the upgrades you were forced to choose did allow for variation in gameplay that increased the difficulty and mixed things up. This is actually a game I would play a second time, despite my complaints of the shop system and satisfaction; the gameplay was just that stimulating on its own
I recommend this game!
When customers drop off their muddy pets, it’s your job to clean ‘;em up! Play through minigames and buy equipment for the shop!
Overall rating
3
/
5
2 of 2 found this review helpful
HIlariously bad
PostedSeptember 30, 2019
wolverinaz
fromLiverpool
Skill Level:Expert
Favorite Genre(s):Hidden Object, Time Management
Fun Factor
3
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
1
/
5
Level of Challenge
3
/
5
Storyline
4
/
5
Entertaining for how bad it is. Incredibly cheesy with terrible graphics and visual design. Something of a novelty to play. Great CGI or art is not expected with these kinds of games, but it's more like early 2000's visual vomit. At least it did attempt an original and humorous atmosphere, but the gameplay was something to be desired. I'm still not entirely sure what happened with those flying cats, but it was entertaining nonetheless.
I don't recommend this game.
Blood Oath
With no memories of your past life and a never-ending hunger, it’s time to embrace a new life as a vampire in Blood Oath!
Overall rating
5
/
5
6 of 9 found this review helpful
EPIC
PostedFebruary 11, 2012
wolverinaz
fromLiverpool
Skill Level:Beginner
Favorite Genre(s):Adventure, Time Management, Hidden Object, Large File, Puzzle
Fun Factor
5
/
5
Visual/Sound Quality
5
/
5
Level of Challenge
5
/
5
Storyline
5
/
5
im sooo convincing my dad to buy me this game, its didnt feel like an hour wen i played it!
I recommend this game!