They say times are tough these days, but try telling that to Flo, the star of PlayFirst’s classic action-puzzle game, Diner Dash. Since Flo opened her first diner six years ago on the PC, business has been booming, with franchises popping up on just about every platform imaginable. Now Flo’s set to expand her market once again and open a brand new eatery for Xbox 360 owners. But will the Xbox Live Arcade version of Diner Dash be enough to satisfy gamers’ hunger? Or is this one meal that needs to be sent back to the kitchen?
In case you’ve never played Diner Dash before, the premise behind it seems simple at first. As Flo, the owner and waitress at a blossoming new diner, it’s your job to make sure that your hungry customers get exactly what they want and leave with good times and full stomachs. For each group of customers that comes in, Flo’s got to get them seated, take their orders to the kitchen, deliver the meals, drop off their checks and finally clear off the table to make it available for the next customer. Take too long to do any of this and your customers will get frustrated, eventually leaving the diner and dropping your overall rating.
The formula seems pretty straightforward and simple, but, like most puzzle games, once things pick up speed, it’s a horse of another color. Before long, you’ve got customers lined up around the block, food critics coming in for preferential treatment and even jugglers trying to keep patrons occupied with a little dinner theater while waiting for their meals. It’s not long before routine gives way to organized chaos, with poor Flo right in the thick of it just trying to make it through another crazy shift.
For those of you who are already familiar with Diner Dash, you’ll be happy to know that the single-player Career and Endless Shift modes have survived the move to the X360. Diner Dash brings something new to the table, though, with the addition of multiplayer co-op and competitive game modes for those who want to get their friends in on the action. Players can work together to try and run an efficient restaurant or compete against each other for tip money. Multiplayer supports two players locally and up to eight players (in team battles) over Xbox Live. While the game has only just debuted on Xbox Live Arcade, the few online bouts I played ran fairly smoothly, though I did hit a little lag in a couple of bigger games.
On the whole, Diner Dash looks much better on the X360 than it ever did on the PC. The visuals are crisp, clean and smooth, and add a little extra depth above what previous versions of the game have dished out. Admittedly, though, the game still suffers from one problem from the original: Cramming all of the action onto the screen at once forces some of the game elements to be a little on the small side, and therefore easy to miss in the course of the gameplay. For example, it took a while for me to realize when coffee had brewed, simply because the cups were so small, they were too easy to overlook.
Minor graphic issues aside, the real fly in Diner Dash’s ointment has to be the game’s attempt at bringing drag-and-drop/point-and-click gameplay to the X360 controller. It just doesn’t ever work out quite right. Too often, I‘d try to seat a group of customers, only to have the wrong group selected or spend too much precious time trying to get them to the best open table and seat. Eventually, I just gave up and rapidly dumped them into whichever table came up first and just hope for the best. Just as frustrating was trying to navigate Flo around the diner after I had more than about five tables on the floor. Running between tables felt like it was too precise of an undertaking, with Flo getting stuck on a table while trying to rush orders around. None of this makes the game unplayable, by any means. However, it’s one more layer of frustration that can leave a bad taste in the player’s mouth.
The Diner Dash series has always been a lot of fun, giving casual gamers a unique puzzle-like experience all its own. Making the move to the Xbox 360, PlayFirst and Hudson have added extra spice to the visuals, and a whole new course of multiplayer mayhem. Unfortunately, the game’s poorly ported control scheme makes the rich flavor of the original game taste more like day-old leftovers instead of a gourmet gaming treat.
In case you’ve never played Diner Dash before, the premise behind it seems simple at first. As Flo, the owner and waitress at a blossoming new diner, it’s your job to make sure that your hungry customers get exactly what they want and leave with good times and full stomachs. For each group of customers that comes in, Flo’s got to get them seated, take their orders to the kitchen, deliver the meals, drop off their checks and finally clear off the table to make it available for the next customer. Take too long to do any of this and your customers will get frustrated, eventually leaving the diner and dropping your overall rating.
The formula seems pretty straightforward and simple, but, like most puzzle games, once things pick up speed, it’s a horse of another color. Before long, you’ve got customers lined up around the block, food critics coming in for preferential treatment and even jugglers trying to keep patrons occupied with a little dinner theater while waiting for their meals. It’s not long before routine gives way to organized chaos, with poor Flo right in the thick of it just trying to make it through another crazy shift.
For those of you who are already familiar with Diner Dash, you’ll be happy to know that the single-player Career and Endless Shift modes have survived the move to the X360. Diner Dash brings something new to the table, though, with the addition of multiplayer co-op and competitive game modes for those who want to get their friends in on the action. Players can work together to try and run an efficient restaurant or compete against each other for tip money. Multiplayer supports two players locally and up to eight players (in team battles) over Xbox Live. While the game has only just debuted on Xbox Live Arcade, the few online bouts I played ran fairly smoothly, though I did hit a little lag in a couple of bigger games.
On the whole, Diner Dash looks much better on the X360 than it ever did on the PC. The visuals are crisp, clean and smooth, and add a little extra depth above what previous versions of the game have dished out. Admittedly, though, the game still suffers from one problem from the original: Cramming all of the action onto the screen at once forces some of the game elements to be a little on the small side, and therefore easy to miss in the course of the gameplay. For example, it took a while for me to realize when coffee had brewed, simply because the cups were so small, they were too easy to overlook.
Minor graphic issues aside, the real fly in Diner Dash’s ointment has to be the game’s attempt at bringing drag-and-drop/point-and-click gameplay to the X360 controller. It just doesn’t ever work out quite right. Too often, I‘d try to seat a group of customers, only to have the wrong group selected or spend too much precious time trying to get them to the best open table and seat. Eventually, I just gave up and rapidly dumped them into whichever table came up first and just hope for the best. Just as frustrating was trying to navigate Flo around the diner after I had more than about five tables on the floor. Running between tables felt like it was too precise of an undertaking, with Flo getting stuck on a table while trying to rush orders around. None of this makes the game unplayable, by any means. However, it’s one more layer of frustration that can leave a bad taste in the player’s mouth.
The Diner Dash series has always been a lot of fun, giving casual gamers a unique puzzle-like experience all its own. Making the move to the Xbox 360, PlayFirst and Hudson have added extra spice to the visuals, and a whole new course of multiplayer mayhem. Unfortunately, the game’s poorly ported control scheme makes the rich flavor of the original game taste more like day-old leftovers instead of a gourmet gaming treat.
