Diner Dash: Flo on the Go brings the stress of waiting on tables right to your pocket! http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=20489 If there's one thing Diner Dash has taught me, it's that I never want to work in a restaurant for as long as I live. That's not necessarily because Diner Dash is no fun, but I just know that in real life, I could never handle the sheer amount of anger I seem to inspire in the game's customers.
For those who don't know, Diner Dash is a frantic restaurant simulation franchise that first appeared as a lightweight downloadable computer game, and has since been ported in various forms to the Nintendo DS, the iPhone, Xbox Live Arcade and a variety of other platforms. Actually, "restaurant simulation" might be putting it too strongly - there's no managing income or opening new locations in this game; instead, the game focuses on the fast-paced world of waitressing. In this installment, the main character, Flo, and her friend Darla are heading on a cruise for a much-needed vacation. But when they lose their luggage in the opening scene, they are forced to work in the ship's restaurant to earn some cash to get their wardrobes back together. Pretty lame vacation if you ask me!
As in previous Diner Dash games, the gameplay area consists of a dining room with tables of various sizes, a counter where the food is cooked, and a bus tray. Customers come in and you have to seat them, take their order, bring their order to the food counter, grab their food when it's prepared, take it to the table, hand them their bill when they're finished, and take their dirty dishes to the bus tray. Simple enough when you're dealing with a single customer, but unfortunately, you never are. Customers keep coming and coming, and each customer is usually in a different stage of their meal than all of the others, so keeping track of where to go and in what order becomes a gargantuan task. The longer customers have to wait for anything (whether it's being seated, receiving their meal, receiving their bill, etc.), the less happy they become, as indicated by a heart graphic that slowly depletes as time goes by. You can also see a customer's happiness level through their facial expression, and a simple scowl can feel surprisingly cutting when you're doing your best to dash around and fulfill everyone's needs.
As the game progresses, layers of complexity are slowly added to the basic gameplay. An optional drink dispenser can raise a table's happiness level, a mop can be used to clean up spills, and different customer types need to be placed strategically (keep those crying babies away from the other customers!). On top of that, different customers wear different-colored clothes, and arranging them at tables to sit in matching chairs can net you some extra points. The game reaches a surprising level of complication once all these extra elements are thrown into the mix, and it's pretty easy to lose your head trying to take care of everything that's going on.
The entire game is controlled with the stylus, and it works very well. This is one of those games that could never work well with buttons, and as such, it's perfectly suited to the DS. The real fun comes when you realize you can "stack" Flo's movements - that is, you can select her destinations faster than she can actually move to them, and the game remembers where you've been clicking such that Flo catches up eventually. Once you get the hang of it, you can reach a certain level of Zen as you smoothly click on the places Flo needs to go and simply trust that she will get there in the right order. Once you achieve this level of mastery, the gameplay can become quite addictive and satisfying.
However, the game's low-budget roots are evident in its graphics and presentation. The graphics are SNES-quality at best, featuring low-detail cartoon-style character sprites. Some of the interface elements are so small and pixelated that they are difficult to interpret, such as the little thought bubble that appears over customers' heads when they want their area mopped. It took me a while to figure out what the heck they were asking for. It's reasonable to expect a certain level of flash and polish when playing a game on a modern platform such the DS, and this game simply doesn't deliver. Cutscenes between sections of the game are weak as well - the story takes place in the form of comic-style panels, with word bubbles that don't actually contain any words. The words are located on the second screen, making for a pretty confusing reading experience. Fortunately, these sequences are short and inconsequential.
Diner Dash features little in the way of bonus content. There is a story mode, in which you play increasingly difficult levels and your vacation progresses from a cruise ship to a train to an island and beyond; there is an endless shift mode, in which you wait on customers until too many of them get fed up with your service and leave; and there is a multiplayer mode requiring each player to own their own copy of the game (which seems pretty ridiculous for a game of this graphical simplicity). You can customize Flo's outfit with pieces of clothing you earn by completing levels in the story mode, but most of the clothing is pretty nondescript, and in Flo's pixelated gameplay form, it's difficult to tell what she's wearing anyway. You can also occasionally upgrade the restaurant's furniture, which affects the gameplay in no way whatsoever.
The game's soundtrack features catchy background tunes that stylistically match Flo's current locale, and it never gets too frantic or repetitive, which is nice. The sound effects are decent, with chatting customers, crying babies, and cooking sounds emanating from the kitchen area blending together to give the restaurant a fair level of atmosphere.
Overall, the game can be quite fun, but it doesn't offer much in the way of gameplay variety, and the presentation is on par with online Flash games. I would be hard pressed to recommend the DS version of Diner Dash when the same game can be had on the PC for a much lower price. Unless you really need to play this one "on the go", there are better ways to get it.
Pros:
Fast-paced addictive gameplay Stylus controls work very well Pleasant sound design Cons: Disappointing graphics Threadbare story Limited replayability Graphics: 6.0 These graphics are way too simple; the game looks like a low-end web game. I expect a little more pizazz from a handheld console game. But they are functional enough and occasionally fairly cute.
Sound: 7.5 The various restaurant denizens make quite a bit of racket, and the music is simple but never too annoying or repetitive. You won't feel the need to mute this game unless you just hate crying babies.
Control: 8.5 This game lends itself perfectly to stylus control, and you'll soon find yourself plotting Flo's course with ease.
Gameplay: 8.0 The game mechanic can be really addictive once you get the hang of things, but each level feels like a more stressful version of the last. Variety is introduced through a few different elements, however, so the gameplay doesn't become too stale too quickly.
Lastability: 6.0
You likely won't find yourself playing through this game over and over, and there's nothing really useful to unlock. It could be good for a quick romp when you've got some downtime and feel like you're not accomplishing anything, though.
Final: 7.5
If this gameplay style suits you, you can really get addicted quickly. However, the DS version doesn't do much to spruce up the simplistic budget-game feel of the series, and the content feels sparse.
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