Mixing Business with Pleasure –
Usually reserved for special weekend occasions and Mother’s Day, brunch is probably the most laid back meal of the day. Interestingly, Circle Entertainment decided to blend panic, the exact opposite of what brunch stands for, into this always enjoyable but rarely participated meal. The end result is something that offers entertainment in five minute increments.
For a casual game there is actually a surprisingly high amount of story content to push the gameplay forward. Bonnie is taking her pastry making dreams on the road and traveling to different locations to feed the general public as quickly and accurately as possible. Interactivity is kept to a minimum and is very simplified. Tap this, swipe that, flick this. Early stages are painfully easy but quickly ramps up during the second batch of stages, hence the “panic” aspect. Within time, players will be making waffles, honeying up croissants, passing out bagels, serving up hot coffee or cold milk, putting together sandwiches, and even offering gum to anyone with an appetite. For a casual game, it is actually gets to be pretty hectic.
Up to four customers can request food at one time which means multitasking is required to serve customers quickly, or in order words, earn a higher score. Easy to understand tutorials keep gameplay progressing by offering something new right when the previous task was just getting mastered. The layering difficulty is paced well but Brunch Panic is still best played in short bursts. The entire game is composed of adorable Flash animations and cartoony graphics but characters, food items, and even voice quips constantly repeat although retaining the original Japanese voice work plays to the game’s overall charm. Even the music sliders found in the options menu are measure in croissants. Like other Circle Entertaining eShop games, there is no stereoscopic 3D feature but is excusable for the lower price of $3.99. There is some replayability since each stage grades the player out of three stars, but earning new “pimp my ride” style unlockables is ultimately a useless incentive to keep playing.
Although it is weird to put whipped cream on a bagel or honey on a croissant, Brunch Panic isn’t all bad even though panic should never be used to describe brunch.
2.5/5
Similar To: many mobile games
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