Order Up!

Order Up! is a cooking simulation-styled mini-game compilation developed by SuperVillain Studios and published by Zoo Games and Funbox Media. It was released on July 22, 2008 in North America and October 24, 2008 in Europe for the Wii.^[4] An enhanced port titled Order Up!! was released for the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS on December 9, 2011.^[5] The game has been released on iOS and Android as Order Up!! To Go.^[6]

Plot

The player assumes the role of a budding chef who has landed in Port Abello, one of the most important locations on the culinary map. After learning the trade in a local fast food joint, the player decides to buy his/her own diner. But, being a proud owner of a restaurant isn't the player's only goal. The Fortified Chef Competition is about to visit town and winning it would launch the player to the centre of the culinary stage.

Gameplay

The game sees the player purchasing and managing various restaurants and trying to earn 5 stars at each by completing goals such as unlocking recipes or impressing a food critic. Certain customers that appear frequently will have special requirements for their meals and the player will have to buy different spices and seasonings to get a bigger tip from them.

The cooking portion of the gameplay sees the player using the motion controls of the Wii Remote (or PlayStation Move control and 3DS touchscreen, respectively) to prepare dishes for customers. Although similar to the gameplay in the Cooking Mama series, Order Up! focuses more on speed, multitasking and time management to ensure a table's order of multiple dishes is sent out on time rather than to simply successfully complete a single dish. In addition, there are a number of non-cooking minigames such as washing plates and shooing away rats.

PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS versions

In addition to those mentioned above, the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS versions also have additional features:

• The PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS versions feature a turn-based multiplayer option.
• There is an extra restaurant available in the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo 3DS versions.
• Order Up!! features higher resolution textures, enhanced scene lighting, and other additions and alterations.
• New characters, such as ninja waiters will be added.

Development

On April 23, 2008, Order Up! was announced by SuperVillain Studios and was dubbed as "Cooking Mama meets The Sims meets Diner Dash" by some critics.^[7] Lee Cummings, who was previously creative director for the games Grand Theft Auto and Bully was working as director for Order Up!.^[8]

On May 20, 2010, SuperVillain Studios released a teaser image for a possible sequel to Order Up!. It was later confirmed on March 9, 2011 that an enhanced port of the original game would be released for the PlayStation 3, for the Nintendo 3DS as Order Up! 3D, iOS and Android as Order Up!: Take Out Edition and another "TBA" platform.^[9] The final title for the port was later confirmed to be Order Up!! on May 18 alongside promotional images for the game.^[10] It was also announced on June 20, 2011 that Robb Mills would be composing an original soundtrack for the game after composing the music for the games Fat Princess and its sequel.^[11]

Reception

Order Up! has received a generally favorable response from critics, garnering a Metascore of 76 from 25 reviews at Metacritic,^[13] and a score of 76% from 26 reviews at GameRankings.^[12]

1UP.com awarded the game a "A-", citing that it is much more fleshed out than most cooking games.^[21] Order Up! also received a 4.25/5 from GamePro,^[22] a 7.75/10 from Game Informer, a 7.5/10 from GameSpot,^[23] while IGN gave it a 7.7/10, calling it a "surprisingly fun restaurant sim".^[24]

Order Up!! To Go

Chillingo released an iOS version in 2012 as Order Up!! To Go. It received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.^[25]

References