*Sources of screenshots are listed in their respective file-names.

_____________________________________________

Cook, Serve, Delicious!* (CSD) gameplay from the Video Games and the Bible YouTube channel:

The frantic, ingredient-slapping gameplay of Cook, Serve, Delicious! sucked me in immediately.

Using a keyboard, controller or mouse, players will conduct every activity in their restaurant–from cleaning toilets to serving soup. At first, this task is easy and clinical–press [K] to add ketchup and so on…

It soon descends into finger-numbing, button-mashing brilliance. Keep in mind that your speedy actions must be accompanied with accuracy (or else you risk dealing with angry customers).

The sheer pace of it all can alienate less experienced gamers.

You will manage most aspects of your restaurant including the menu. Each dish has “boosters” and “detractors.” This means certain recipes are higher in fat, less attractive on rainy days, smelly in the mornings, etc. This helps the player choose the right foods for their restaurant.

These three gameplay pillars–management, strategy and fast-paced cooking–form the core of the Cook, Serve, Delicious! experience.

You can participate in televised Iron Cook challenges or cater special events for SherriSoda Tower:

At the end of each in-game day you can check your SherriSoda Tower email account. Emails take the form of ClicknStart projects for you to support (a reference to popular crowd-funding website Kickstarter), weather reports, game tips or…messages like this:

You can upgrade your restaurant and buy new equipment such as a dishwasher (reducing the number of dishes that must be washed), grill, table snacks (making customers more patient), etc.

Finally, there are a number of features to enhance replay value including New Game+ and Extreme Difficulty (I did not survive).

Conclusion:

Cook, Serve, Delicious! offers more than a blend of fast, addictive, eminently-replayable fun for the “summer drought.” It’s a rare exception in that almost every Potential Concern listed below can be circumvented with a feature, option or by player choice.

The fact that you can engage purely with the elements acceptable to your family makes Cook, Serve, Delicious! a fantastic addition to nearly any library.

Potential Concerns:

Some of the aforementioned emails can use crude humor or include slight curse words (the d-word, cr-p, etc.):

Although these are relatively few in number, families have the option to disable them entirely with the “Mail Filter” item unlocked later in the game.

Players can gamble on their performance through handcrafted and procedurally-generated “bets.” Unlike some of the other Potential Concerns described, the game does not attach a negative connotation to this (besides losing your money).

Players can serve alcoholic drinks such as “The Rich Brewsky” and wine.

However, the player can choose not to serve alcohol and there is a negative effect associated with having these items on your menu.

After earning a two-star resturant, you can “date” through the chef-to-foodie dating service “Cook4Luv (this takes the form of small text exchanges).” You can choose whether you date males or females, or to not interact with this service.

There is at least one double entendre in recipe names.

Buy Now! (Steam)

Buy Now! (Humble Store)

Purchasing this game through the Humble Store (above) not only gives you a Steam code, but DRM-free copies of the game on every platform.

10% of each purchase through Humble Store also goes to charity.

*This title was received for review. See our statement of ethics here and game review criteria here.
________________________________________________________________

*Do you want to be saved?

*Do you want to make sure that you are saved?

*More articles from Video Games and the Bible.