★★★★★ Fun but finicky
Sat Nov 06 2021 LakeybakeThe game has a variety of different recipes, outfits, and cute graphics that capture your attention. It can be a little confusing when you first start playing because there are no instructions on how to do anything. However, after a while of playing, you’ll get the hang of it and learn that it’s a fairly simple game to play. One of the biggest issues (for me at least) are the glitches. A lot of the cooking actions have glitches and it totally messes up your timing, which can effect your score quite a bit. I understand that it’s a large game and that smoother gameplay may mean that something else has to be pared down, but I dunno, it does need to function. I can usually ignore or anticipate the glitches but it doesn’t help with the scoring. My biggest issue to date is not being able to get past the “finding other players” screen. Up until this weekend, I hadn’t had any problems; but lately, it’s just been buffering and buffering and not connecting. I tried restarting it, changing my connection, etc. and nothing. I figured that I had missed an update or something but nope, it just wasn’t working. I’m sure that it’s a glitch and will be fixed but for people playing this for the first time, it could be a dealbreaker. It doesn’t matter how entertaining or nice looking the game is if you can’t even play it. So, while a lot of fun, there are still several improvements that could be made. I don’t want to describe the other problems in great detail (the scoring’s weird and so are the ingredient choices at times) because I don’t want anyone to think that the game isn’t worth the trouble. It’s awesome—but the glitches that interrupt the actual gameplay are what bothers me the most.
★★★★★ New Update
Tue Jul 25 2023 adelynieI used to love this game, but the new update is disappointing. In the older version, I really enjoyed using different ingredients each game in order to unlock a new recipe. Yet with the new update, we are given access to all the recipes in the game, which makes the game less exciting. I liked the episode aspect of it as well, where you were given new ingredients to try as you progressed further in the game - with access to all the recipes and ingredients, there is no progression-feel anymore. Another issue is how difficult the game became. I used to be able to get first, second, or third pretty easily - however with the new update, the highest I’ve gotten is third place, no matter how fast or perfect I am. It’s discouraging, and I wish the game would focus more on skills rather than how fast you can cook. Lastly, the app is slow and glitchy. This might be just my game, but when I click on the first ingredient I need to use at the beginning of a game, it glitches and doesn’t let me click on it for a couple of seconds, causing everyone to get ahead of me and for me to finish cooking in 5th or 6th place almost every time. All in all, I can see the hard work that was put into the new update and this game is really fun. Before I knew this game was in the process of updating, I used to check my phone every week or so to see if it would load past 67% so that I could play it. Now I’m not sure the wait was worth it! :(
I will keep playing to see if I can get past 3rd place, but for now it seems impossible…
★★★★★ Fun but could be better
Tue Jul 12 2022 6filthyyyIt's a fun game but I believe it could be a lot better. For starters, if there was an option to play with actual people as well as invite friends to play with you. Some of the cooking features won't allow you to get any better than "Good" such as the rolling pizza dough out & sometimes the boiling (which can be frustrating because sometimes it won't allow you to change the temp at first or you'll get stuck trying to turn it up but it will be too late and it'll boil over). There is a glitch in the game for the "Prime Day" feature as well that when you're on your last ticket and you play the first match - even if you win, it won't allow you to play again because it claims you've ran out of tix even though you're using your last one. It sometimes will allow me to get past the first match but not the second and so on. Also, I believe it's not even about whose cooking techniques are better as it seems that this is all about timing for the regular play feature. No matter how many steps I'll hit "Incredible" with if I come in last I lose. Whereas when I play Prime Day I can take my time and usually get Incredible for majority of steps and always win even if I come in dead last. Overall it has great potential to be a better game; I think these are very significant changes that would be great to add to do just that!
★★★★★ some aprons give your avatar boobs
Thu Dec 23 2021 MixterVEEi downloaded this game so that i could play a cooking game and also dress up an avatar at the same time . and i did this weekly box thing to get this cool fish apron!!! at least i thought it was cool then when i put it on my avatar it gave me boobs like i don't want this??? i want my avatar to be androgynous WHY would you change the body shape for some clothing items?? there is no gender option but if you are gonna put boobs in your clothes please let me choose male so i can wear fun clothes but with a flat chest. i've really looked everywhere for a gender option and i can't find one but my character only gets boobs with this apron. i want the fish apron grrrrrrr
i was wary in downloading this game cause of some of the reviews (lag, hard to get first place) but honestly this has been the most frustrating part for me, prolly cause i really wanted a game that is avatar based. apple arcade needs more games with customizable avatars/characters !!!!
the cooking part is okay but if you are gonna do the whole avatar thing do it right, don't make clothing change body shape, give gender options instead please like wow that's so basic for an avatar system, you have skinny and thicc but not genders?? i'm nonbinary so it's great when there is an nb option but honestly male works fine so if you at least had male and female that would be fine. it looks like some of the locked aprons have boobs too and i'm like why ....
★★★★★ Several Bugs
Wed Sep 27 2023 lil gooniesSince the last major update, I feel like the game has had major problems. There are so many bugs it is hard to keep track of but here are a couple I have noticed:
1. For the daily challenges, sometimes the judges requests are for the previous version where they ask that you meet 3 of the battle requirements. This is annoying since it is impossible to meet the judge request with the new update since you pick the recipe instead of choosing ingredients like before.
2. For stamps requirement and some judge requirements, there are a lot of achievements that are not registered. For example, for the finish first in Prime Time 10 times, no matter how many times I finish first none of the wins register and it states I have zero. Another example is the make 10 butcher cuts recipeso, none of the recipes under Butcher’s Cuts register but somehow the Veal Marengo does even though it’s under Stews (and it doesn’t register as a stew recipe for stamps!
3. I had a majority of the recipes at the max level, but with the update most of these are back to level 1. This is frustrating because it is so hard to upgrade recipes especially with the new recipes.
Overall, while I do enjoy the new recipes and activities, there are a lot of kinks that need to be worked out which makes it difficult to enjoy the game fully.
★★★★★ Great Foundations, But Room For More
Mon Sep 20 2021 DocLivewireThis plays like a competitive Cooking Mama and can actually be, to some degree, pretty challenging. The lack of ability to buy the loot crates keeps them fresh and exciting and not a microtransaction bummer. The game is addicting and challenging enough that it’s difficult to find yourself in first place, or even in the top three, consistently.
I do have (minor) issues with the game though. As a lefty, weighing out ingredients can be a pain because my hand will block the scale’s numbers so a lefty mode would be fantastic to see. The handle for closing the oven is just close enough to the bar to close the game so it’s a 50/50 shot whether I’m going to minimize the game or close the oven, which can cost precious time when racing to finish first. When making cream cheese sushi, the white lines of the “fill zone” blend right in with the white background of the rice making it anyone’s guess if I’m almost outside of the lines until it’s too late and the meter is plummeting to the red. Finally, when cooking in the pan if two of the same directional arrows are too close it’ll register the swipe for the first as also the swipe for the second and, despite that the first arrow may be swiped with perfect timing, you’ll lose the points for the second arrow since it registers as swiping too soon.
While the game has room to grow and could do with a few more motivators to play once maxed out in level and rank and having already claimed the daily rewards, it’s hard to put down. The challenge of selecting the perfect recipe to fit all the judges’ requirements can be a fun puzzle. It’s got excellent recipe variation and the player characters have a really fun design (though more hair options would be a bonus!)
★★★★★ The Boiling Technique
Sat Jun 04 2022 CaramelQu33nI downloaded the app even after reading some reviews as I found the game intriguing.
Pros: It’s enjoyable and there is always a reward to be claimed even if it’s just experience points to level you up. The customizable outfits, utensils, and leveling up the ingredients are a great touch. The colors and the aesthetic of the game is so cool. I love cooking games and appreciate not having to turn my phone sideways as well as no ad spam everyone a match is over! Prime Time was a great addition.
Cons: The boiling technique. Oh my gosh it’s aggravating. I just don’t get it. Lower the heat to follow the green for too long and the food doesn’t cook, don’t follow the green and boil the food, but then it boils over?! It’s almost impossible to get good or impressive when boiling. Hope that gets fixed soon. Needing to unlock new recipes?! Good luck with that. Seems like the only time I discover new recipes is when I play Prime Time. What’s up with that?! Let’s say I want to experiment, so I grab bacon first to see what else I can make with it? Everything else is automatically locked except pizza dough or pasta, so it’s like… oh, that dish again?! 😮💨😮💨😮💨😮💨😮💨 I am not really sure what to suggest as far as an alternative way to unlock new recipes but get someone on that stat! 👌🏽
★★★★★ good game, could be better
Sat Dec 25 2021 coolperson0315Many of these reviews are about the same thing: lag and a feeling of the rounds being rigged. I originally thought that the lag was only because I have an iPhone 8 with slight water damage, so my screen sometimes acts up. But after reading some reviews I realized that’s not the case; it’s a common problem. Just about every step when creating a recipe lags and often times messes me up. The mixing stage is god awful, I will not lie. It feels like no matter what I do or how I “mix” it barely ends up working and I’m left with “Oops”. I experience the most lag when mixing and peeling, and especially when measuring ingredients. The more I play, the less fun it is because of the lag. Also, the farther you get in the game the harder it is to win(I know that sounds like an obvious statement but you know what I mean.) No matter how fast I get through a recipe it always seems I’m ending close to last or even last. It just seems like it’s impossible to finish first, even when I make something simple like a pizza. And when I do have an extremely good round, I’m talking getting all 3 objectives, finish first or second, and overall have a lot of stars, I still rarely make it to top 3. The thought of winning isn’t even relevant anymore. Another problem that I never would’ve thought I’d have in this game is getting ingredients that don’t even make anything. No matter what combination of ingredients I use, sometimes I literally can’t even make a single dish and have to just quit the round. Sounds like a problem considering… ya know… this is a cooking game… Overall, it’s still a pretty fun game and there are so many different recipes to be made. But there are also lots of issues. I really hope they can get it fixed and this game would be even better.
