Claire's Cruisin' Café. Collector's Edition

You overhear talk between the owner of The Sneaky Fox restaurant, and its head Chef. The Chef is going to leave the Sneaky Fox and that there’s a perfect replacement right under they’re very nose. Thinking that this must mean you, you’re full of joy and happiness at the prospects of running the kitchen as head Chef. However, later on you discover that the owner has hired another Chef, totally overlooking you leaving you a bit down in the dumps.

Although, Frank (your brother, a talented photographer) says that your talents are being wasted at The Sneaky Fox. You’ll never invent new recipes or write a book, it’s now or never to take a leap of faith and follow your dreams, quit working for someone else and become your own boss. It’s going to take some hard work and you need to earn enough money so that you can buy a food truck. Frank has a friend who has an outside café, it’s not the fanciest café by any means. The menu might not be what you’re used to cooking but you’ll get a cut of the revenue.

You will have to enter a name upon starting a new game, followed by selecting the games difficulty. There are three difficulties to choose from, Easy, a relaxing experience, Normal, this offers a balanced game and Hard, here you’ll need to be quick and play smart in order to earn enough pennies. The higher the difficulty the more money you will need to earn before you beat a level. You can change mode at any point in the game and your progress in each difficulty is saved separately. If you are unsure on how to play the game you can visit Gameplay on the main menu screen. Here it will explain how the game is played, everything is pretty straight forward though so you shouldn’t have any problems.

Starting your first day working at the outside café, will have you making and serving some basic foods and drinks. Currently on the first level you have Burgers, Donuts and Coffee, once you open the café people will start to wander in and sit down, read the menu and then order what they want. What they want is indicated above the characters, you if you see a Burger, they you must serve them a Burger. They might order two or three items of your menu at once, so they may want a burger, coffee and donut. You can serve these items individually, however, serving all three at the same time will give you better tips and likes.

Foods like Burgers need to be prepared, early on you just need to click on the burger and bun then add the top half of the bun. This will then appear on the table bottom of the screen, items here are ready for serving to the customers. Once you have the items a customer wants you need to click on that customer you will then serve the customer. Once they have finished eating, they will pay for their meal, you will have to click on them again and collect their money, after which the customers will move on and new customers will fill the void left.

The food menu will get more and more complex, you’ll start making, cheese burgers, fish, kebabs, steaks, pizzas with sides along with all kinds of drinks and desserts as you progress through the levels. You will get some help from Frank and other characters as you try to keep on top of things although sometimes, you’re left on your own to cook, serve and even clean up all on your own. You will also have to put up with more and more customers, some of which are there to write about their experience.

Make the experience a memorable one for the customer, this will mean getting their order ready, quickly serving and collecting the money from them. Doing this will give allow you to earn more Money, bigger Tips and Likes. On each Level you have the chance of gaining One to Three stars depending on how much money you have earned. How much you have earned and how many stars you currently are going for on any level is indicated in the top left corner of the screen. There is also a timer which details how much time is left before the shop closes for the day once you’ve opened the doors. Besides the Star indicator is a large Heart, this will fill up when you get Likes for giving a prompt service. Before starting the next level if you have enough cash you can spruce up the place with any cash you have earned. You can upgrade the seating, cooker, coffee machines etcetera to make the place more appetising to the customer.

There are Sixty-Six Levels in total, Levels One to Ten take place in the Outside Café, then every Ten Levels you visit a new location to tout your wares. There are some A and B bonus levels to play, you can unlock the A’s as you complete certain levels. The A’s bonus levels are to find the Matched Pair of Face Down Cards, I’m unsure of what the B’s bonus levels are, as you need to unlock Level Sixty first and I’m not write there just yet.

Rewards on the main menu contain any unlocked achievements you may have earned. In Bonus on the main menu screen, you will find Heroes, information on the characters within the game. Wallpapers and Music bonuses can also be found in Bonus and you’ll unlock new wallpapers and music as you proceed through the game.

In the options there’s settings for Sound and Music Volume Sliders, Full Screen and Show Hints and that’s your lot.

So, far I’ve enjoyed playing the game, it’s easy enough to play and can be challenging also. It looks and sounds great and I haven’t had any problems with the game thus far.

? Positives
+ Enjoyable game for all
+ Looks and sounds good
+ Multiple difficulty modes
+ Has achievements

? Negatives
- No

I’ve never spent so much time sloggin’ me guts out over a hot stove and not burn anything, if only my real-life cooking was the same as Claire’s Cruisin’ Cafe ? 7/10

Claire's Cruisin 'Cafe is a simulation / time management game developed by Yustas Games Studio.

Gameplay / Story
Your brother and Claire have a great idea together to start their own restaurant. Your role is to play Claire, an aspiring super cook, and serve your customers a variety of haute cuisine from your souped-up food truck. As you help Claire and her crew keep up with the demand, you'll complete tasks that range from preparing dishes to taking photos of happy guests. The faster you work and the happier your customers are, the bigger your tip.

Between each fast-paced level, spend your earnings on upgrades for your restaurants and follow a humorous story of Claire's mishaps with a big-headed competitor and the identity of a mysterious food critic.
For the successes you have to get 3 stars and the golden heart in each level. The 3 stars are easy, especially when you are playing on the easiest difficulty level. The golden heart is rewarded for various tasks at each level.

Pro
+ Addicting gameplay
+ Solid graphics and sound
+ Lively characters
+ Many levels that offer a good number of hours of gameplay
+ Same, easy-to-understand game mechanics as in other games
+ Achievements

Contra
- Level design repeats itself over time
- At some point, tasks are no longer surprising

Conclusion
Claire's Cruisin 'Cafe brings you some lively characters, with a combination of addicting gameplay. Clear purchase recommendation for this genre.