G5 Entertainment recently released Stand O’Food 3, the iOS sequel to the casual but popular burger-serving game Stand O’Food. With over 75 new levels, Stand O’Food 3 delivers the same addictive gameplay as its predecessor, this time with graphics, music, and in-game upgrades.
Story
Stand O’Food 3 once more follows our hero Ronnie the Chef as he expands his chain of restaurants, this time past his hometown and into Tinseltown, where new friends (and enemies) await.
The gameplay is intercut with amusing comics regaling Ronnie’s adventures. Amusing, that is, for SoF3′s younger players. From an adult’s perspective, the storyline doesn’t really add much, but is harmless and unobtrusive at least.
Gameplay
In Stand O’Food 3, the player must build either burgers, pies, or lasagnas according to each customer’s exact specifications. Each recipe is built in layers, with order mattering a great deal – a customer will not accept his or her order if even two layers are inverted. Additionally, each customer will only wait for a certain amount of time – if an order takes too long, he or she will leave. Players can purchase items and upgrades, such as air conditioning and jukeboxes, that will delay customers’ leaving for longer.
Before beginning SoF3, I was convinced it would deliver the same addictive and strategic gameplay that Cakemania did. I was not disappointed; there’s something about micro-managing the actions of a restaurant worker I find strangely amusing to the point of being able to do so for long stretches at a time. However, eventually SoF3 hit a plateau where no matter how needlessly complicated the recipes become, the gameplay gets redundant. You’ve upgraded all the machines and refilled all the ingredients, and you still have too much money left over.
Audio
The game’s soundtrack actually added quite a bit to the experience. Many actions triggered aurally-rewarded feedback, such as the sound of a burger being grilled or the cha-ching of the cash register when a customer paid and left. While not absolutely necessary to the gameplay (I got along just fine when my iPhone was set to vibrate, silencing all in-game sounds), the sounds were oddly gratifying.
Visuals
Aside from commenting on the cutesy cartoon animation, not much can be said about the graphics. The only drawback is that on an iPhone screen, some things just get too crowded; it was very easy to accidentally click the trash can, for instance, when aiming for something else. Doing so causes Ronnie to throw away the last ingredient he has picked up, losing the restaurant money. This is obviously not a big deal in the end, but can get frustrating when it happens over and over again.
Overall
While not perfect, Stand O’Food 3 provides one of the more entertaining experiences I’ve had with an iPhone game. It is simple, easy to pick up, and quite addictive – in short, everything one would look for in an iPhone game.