Lunch A Palooza Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Lunch A Palooza
Genre: Action, Fighting, Party
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on PC, PS4 and Xbox One)
Developer|Publisher: Seashell Studio | AlternativeSoftware
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US Everyone
Price: UK £12.99 | EU € 15,99 | US $15.99
Release Date:  November 3^rd 2020

Review code provided with many thanks to AlternativeSoftware

Food Fight

Lunch a Palooza is a party game where you play as food items with squiggly eyes balls and compete against the competition to come out on top. There are eight food based characters to choose from. These include a burger, meatball, pizza slice and sushi roll. Four are unlocked by playing the game over a set length of time and winning matches. You can also unlock new skins for the food items, some of which made them look a little less than appealing.

Modes on the Menu

The game presents you with a few different modes. The main mode has up to four players competing on a table attempting to knock each other off. You have five lives each and it’s essentially a last food standing affair. The controls, while simple, feel very messy. You have a standard attack and a charge attack. Both of which felt like that there was no weight to them. Despite clearly hitting opponents it seemed like the luck of the odds whether it would push my opponent back or not. Certain characters appeared much more effective than others, particularly the food items you unlock making the whole affair feel unbalanced. 

As well as this mode there’s also a King of the Hill style mode where you need to try capture an area for as long as possible as well as a Battle mode where lives are not a factor and you have to knock as many opponents off the table before the timer runs out. While nice ideas, all the modes are played across the same levels and the game feels just clumsy to play. Random power ups will appear throughout the level and you can pick up items to use against opponents but everything becomes cluttered very quickly. It’s very hard to follow what’s going on leading to a party experience that doesn’t feel fun to play. 

Motion Sickness

You can play across 6 levels, three of which are unlockable. They all take place on a table in an environment like a restaurant or arcade, the later being my favourite level as you play on a air hockey table. One level has you on a table, on a boat, while the background environment scrolls. This movement actually induced motion sickness for my wife who was assisting me with this review. 

You can choose to play the game with AI bots who seem a lot more competent at the game than I was. Unfortunately you can’t alter their difficulty level which feels like a missed opportunity. 

Other than four party games that’s all there really is to Lunch A Palooza. There’s no story modes or methods of progression. It’s simply a game that is designed to be played with others on the sofa. Sadly this doesn’t feel like a game that’s accessible or fun for the family.

Some Plus Points

I wanted to throw in a few positives before I concluded. First some of the designs for the food items like the jelly are kinda cute. Especially the sound it makes when firing jelly at the others! (Wife) There’s a section in the main menu where you can check your progress on unlockables’ but if you highlight each character and level the developers created a rather humourous description and back story for each food item and level destination. A nice little touch.

Off the Menu

Lunch a Palooza has all the ingredients for a fun party game but the order we are given ends up being more of a food related disaster.

Awkward controls, confusing gameplay and a level that causes motion sickness. This is a lunch that needs a lot more time in the oven before it’s ready for consumption.

Final Verdict: I Don’t Like It