About a year ago, I played a game called Chocolatier. While I didn't have fun at first, I quickly grew to enjoy the game. So I tried one of the sequels, The Great Chocolate Chase. Unfortunately, everything that was fun about the game was removed. Instead of flying around the world trying to find new chocolate recipes for your company, you are waiting on customers much like a Diner Dash game. (Though the visuals are more like Cake Mania.) From the first level, the game is way too difficult. It is almost impossible to keep up with the number of customers they throw at you. And since each order takes about three steps to make, it's difficult to make the chocolate the existing customers want while getting menus for new customers. Overall, it's a terrible game that isn't worth the time to try.
Game review: Chocolatier 2: Secret Ingredients
Back in October, I talked about the first Chocolatier game. Since I had a lot of fun playing the first one, I gave the sequel a try. Chocolatier 2 was even more fun than Chocolatier 1. Perhaps it was due to playing the first one but I was able to make a ton of money and gain new recipes very quickly. The basic gameplay is the same and it's easy to pick up if you haven't played the original. The big change is that now you can make your own recipes. Once you reach Entrepreneur status, you can buy your way into the lab to research new recipes with various ingredients. To show just how easy it can be to achieve this, I only played the one hour demo and managed to not only access the laboratory, I also created two brand new recipes. I even got the chance to implement those recipes before the trial ended.
I've played a lot of casual games lately and I have to admit, this is the most fun I have had in a long time. I think anyone would enjoy Chocolatier 2.
Game review: Chocolatier
I played Chocolatier awhile ago and thought it was just OK. So I decided to give it another try. Maybe it's because I knew how the controls worked this time around but I enjoyed it a lot more. The basic gist of the game is that a large chocolate-making family has hit some hard times. They need you to help rebuild their chocolate empire. You travel around the world in search of their lost recipes while keeping track of your factories and their inventory. In your travels, you will come across people that will place special orders for candies. For the most part, these people will pay top dollar for your wares.
In some ways, the game gets very difficult. Every time you have to make a new type of chocolate, there is a mini-game for that factory. If you wish to make that type of chocolate in multiple factories, you'll need to replay that mini-game each time. While the recipe will transfer to all of your factories, how to actually make them will not. That part is a little tedious. Especially when you are trying to teach your factories how to make the new recipes as well.
Overall, the game was pretty fun. It takes awhile to get used to what you are supposed to do and I still have problems remembering what port sells which ingredients. I think that chocolate lovers might get a kick out of this but I don't think it's anything that people will be able to play for really long periods of time.