Big Cheese Studio know a thing or two about creating a good cooking simulator game. Building on the 2019 release of Cooking Simulator, Cooking Simulator 2 looks to build on the foundations set by its predecessor. Cooking Simulator 2 is available now to buy on Steam for £21.99. However, if you buy before the 14th of April, you will get an introductory offer of 15% off!
How different is Cooking Simulator 2 from the original Cooking Simulator? Let’s take a look!
Gameplay
Beginning in a small yet promising restaurant, Cooking Simulator 2 goes beyond just cooking. It expands to include all the trials and tribulations of owning your own restaurant. It includes buying stock, preparation, cooking, presentation, and finally serving. There is certainly plenty to explore, so let’s get into it!
Cooking itself is only one part of the challenge. You need to make sure your shelves are stocked by ordering groceries, before then preping the ingredients to ensure you stay on track. Prepping is not easy, as you need to learn how to tune temperatures and manage your timing to ensure you avoid culinary disaster. Even the most basic tasks can soon lead to disasters. It is therefore imperative that you get it right from the start!
One way to ensure that you become the next culinary genius is to ensure you use your experience to unlock new skills, perks and techniques. This will allow you to create dishes with unique qualities and to take on specialised challenges from the International Academy of Master Chefs.
The main difference between Cooking Simulator 1 and 2 is the addition of co-op, as suggested in the title “better together”. You have the option to go solo or ask for a hand. The multiplayer co-op allows your friends to jump into your kitchen. This allows you to share the workload and profit, or create whatever chaos you decide. It is always “better together”, as the game name suggests. Would it be as fun just creating chaos by yourself?
The cooking itself is what I found the hardest. The game takes it to the extreme in terms of being realistic. While Cooking Simulator focused on a relaxed user experience, this certainly ups the ante. There is a lot more to keep track of, and the learning curve is high. However, it does give a more authentic cooking experience.
Graphics & Audio
Cooking Simulator 2 follows in the footsteps of Cooking Simulator when it comes to its style. It continues with the cartoon-like aesthetic; however, it does look more realistic then it’s predacesor. You can certainly tell the difference when you look at the food produced in Cooking Simulator and then in Cooking Simulator 2.
Seemingly, a lot of players have been suffering from graphical issues since its release, with a huge concern being that it continuously stutters. I fortunately did not run into this particular problem, but I did run into some small graphical glitches. The most noticeable for me was when serving dishes. The compants to the dish, such as the burger and lettuce, would float in the air rather than come together. This is not a huge issue, and it is something the team is actively trying to fix. We have already seen 3 updates of fixes pushed out by the team.
Longevity
Cooking Simulator 2 comes with 2 different playable options. Firstly, there is the career mode where you climb towards culinary excellence. The aim is to make your kitchen into a world class resturant. There is plenty of unlock and a continual progression throughout.
Seemingly, where I had the most fun alongside my trusty co-op partner Kyle, was in the sandbox mode. Here, you are given an unlimited budget, unlimited perks and upgrades. Meaning, you can do whatever you want! Clearly, as we can see from the above picture, this is exactly what I did. I ordered everything I *thought* I needed, which caused Kyle to have a small breakdown caused by me…
One thing that did frustrate me about sandbox mode was that it was still timed. The preparation period beforehand, I feel, should be something the player dictates. It felt rushed, and it should be at your own pace, if you decide. Especially when you can only complete the tutorial solo. When you start the game in co-op mode, you are therefore not afforded the opportunity for the tutorial, and adding in the clock, it is slightly unnerving.
If this were an added feature, that being said, we have a choice in if its a timed or not will add greatly to the user experience. It would make the mode more fun and more specific to what the user wants.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I believe Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together has the bones to be able to be a good game. However, in its current state, I would say it has released more in early access rather than a full game release. The principles of what is being suggested sound like a game which will develop into being the forefront of the cooking simulation genre. However, it is quite a far way from being that at this moment. It must be said that Big Cheese Studios are hot on fixing issues, with there being 3 updates within a matter of days.
I am curious to see how the game develops with these fixes; however, in its current state, I will have to award Cooking Simulator 2: Better Together with the Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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