Game: Overcooked! All You Can Eat
Genre: Action, Strategy, Party, Multiplayer
System: Nintendo Switch (also on PC, PS4, PS5 and Xbox)
Developer|Publisher: Ghost Town Games | Team 17
Age Rating: EU 3+ | US Everyone
Price: US $39.99 | UK £29.99 | EU € 39,99
Release Date: March 23rd, 2021
Review code provided with many thanks to Team 17
Cooking Legacy
I have been a huge fan of Overcooked for quite some time. Around five years ago I remember seeing the first Overcooked game being displayed at a British gaming convention. Four gamers were huddled around a TV wearing silly chief hats having the time of their lives playing a game where you cook food and serve orders within strict time limits. I remember just standing there watching people enjoy themselves with their friends and even random strangers. This is video gaming at its best. It was wonderful to see the original game released to critical acclaim and see it garner a sequel as well as several pieces of paid and free seasonal DLC. And I and my wife have been there for the ride every step of the way.
Now in 2021, we have Overcooked! All You Can Eat it’s a huge package that features both Overcooked 1 & 2 with all previously released DLC packs as well as adding a few new levels and features. Originally released as a next-gen exclusive to PS5 and the new Xbox which seemed like a silly move. But fortunately, it has made its way to practically every other system including the Nintendo Switch. With all that waffle out the way let’s dive into this dish and see if this is the delicious video game package it appears to be.
A Brief Summary
If somehow you have not played the Overcooked series let me give you a quick summary of what this game is all about. You enter single-screen levels as a cute little chief with up to four friends. The aim of the game is to create delicious meals like soup, pizza, burgers etc using the tools and ingredients dotted around the level under a time limit. Ingredients need cutting, cooking and serving on a plate to be ready to order up. This all soon devolves into a mixture of communicating and shouting at your co-op partners in order to get the job done, since there are not enough players to perform all the tasks and you’re working against the clock.
Levels also come in all varieties with various hazards to make things just that little more tricky. There are lava pits, rats stealing your ingredients and let us not forget, the kitchen can be set on fire if you leave food to cook too long. Completing food orders nets you points which go towards obtaining a 3-star rating at the end of the level. A feat my wife and I insisted on achieving in every game, often requiring multiple replays to achieve. Serving food orders in the correct sequence and on time will increase your score combo. If you fail to meet an order on time you lose points and the combo breaks.
Best Together
Overcooked is at its best and most rewarding if you can share it in co-op with other players. It’s a stressful game for sure, especially when things go wrong in the kitchen and trust me, they will. But it is undoubtedly going to create some memorable gaming moments. The controls are simple to pick up and play so anyone can jump in the fun and have a go even with single joy cons. If players do find the experience too much there is an assist mode that allows more time to get orders ready should you be looking for a slightly more Zen Overcooked experience.
If you opt to play alone two chiefs are present in the level and you switch between each of the two to complete rounds. It doesn’t feel as rewarding but it’s nice the developers considered this. This version of the game features online cross-platform match matching and when I played this for review I was fortunate to mostly find at least one other person to play with. It’s not quite the same as shouting orders at someone on the sofa, instead you make use of emotes to try to communicate. The performance online also seemed to vary wildly with some games running quite smoothly and others jittering at a horrible pace.
Double Dip?
If you own the previous two Overcooked games (as well as all the DLC) the incentive to buy All You Can Eat might be small. The main new feature added is a brand new campaign ‘The Peckish Rises’ which was not available in any of the prior games. This is really only a few new levels with new food recipes. It feels incredibly tacked on in this collection and lacks originality seen in some of the free seasonal DLC from Overcooked 2. To the game’s credit, you are able to play all the levels from the Overcooked series (DLC included) locally or online with friends or random folk. A big positive is you can also play as any of the cooks available across every game including extra variants which is fantastic, as it means I can finally play as my favourite T- rex character from the first game again.
Graphical Tweaks
The graphics for all the games appear to have had some tweaks which came with some issues. Generally, it’s a warm, friendly simple graphical style. Overcooked is filled with happy Chiefs and lots of colourful kitchens in various environments to experience. More detail is added to the levels, textures and even the food orders have new detailed pictures at the top of the screen.
I went back to the previous two games and the changes are very small. A small problem I encountered is on the level select maps where you drive a little bus around to each new level, the sound for the bus has completely disappeared. This is a glitch that really bothered me as someone who’s very experienced with the series.
Performance
The Nintendo Switch version of the game is clearly the weakest in terms of performance compared to the other consoles. Running at 30 FPS it’s clear the game doesn’t quite run as well as other systems such as the standard Xbox One. But if Nintendo Switch is your only or preferred option; the game runs ok. Levels from the first Overcooked appeared to run significantly better than the second game and the new content.
Often it was hard to pick up items and put them down efficiently. Things just felt jerky and not smooth and for a game like Overcooked where performance is really important when working to a time limit, this doesn’t go unnoticed. The benefit of the Switch is you can play it in handheld mode but the performance does appear to drop further and it might be a bit tricky to have four people huddle around a small Switch screen, as fun as that may sound.
Conclusion
Overcooked! All You Can Eat is the definitive Overcooked experience. The new campaign, graphical tweaks, online cross-play and accessibility features are most welcome. But they may not be enough to justify a double-dip if you’ve already heavily invested in the previous two games. One suggestion is you could get this and give away your other Overcooked games to a friend or someone that needs cheering up. But it’s up to you.
Being that person I was a bit disappointed by this title due to the games performance issues on Switch and the graphical and sound glitches I encountered here and there. This just doesn’t seem to be the celebration of the series it should be.
If you have somehow never played the Overcooked series before and have some friends or family to play with this feels like an essential purchase. Let’s hope this is not the last we see of the series.
Final Verdict: I Like it!
