Alright, well... The game isn't bad. It has it's goods and bads, but it's just a normal TM with nothing overly special.

I say that because there are some ... Questionable things.

First things first: You get to play three regular restaurants + one Collector's Edition. It'll take you about 4hrs+ Depending on how focused you were.

Now then... I have a question... WHAT are Matthew and Tammy are to one another? Just friends? Lovers? There is no answer, so I will make up my own then.

The money... I think the game kinda forgot to calculate money correctly. Example: 1st restaurant board upgrade cost: 6 coins. Cool. Next restaurant: You will have more than 1k now, so it says: upgrade cost: 6 coins... Not that I wasn't happy... But it's just strange... Because I am pretty certain that didn't happen on third and fourth restaurants!

Then there is the matter of the goal money... It shows... 100 coins (example)... And you make... Over 500. Granted that also makes me happy to 5x my pay out, but it isn't really following what is shown.

There are also a few bugs... I am pretty certain in the second restaurant you can only use the Stereo ONCE PER LEVEL. I had to make do with that.

Then whenever you PACKAGE foods/drink YOU CIRCLE AROUND the entire freaking table before going to package it! Why...? Mostly happened at the last restaurant.

And every time you used a stereo... Your character constantly walked down to it... The same thing happens when you go to serve a customer: you go down first, then deliver food to the customer.

The strangest part of this game are the food items. Normally you can REMEMBER some recipes and complex ones you might have trouble with, but here... I had trouble with all. Yes. ALL. Not because of my memory, but because the items looked too much alike! In every restaurant!

It's not that either, as SOME ITEMS looked like the bean soup... But actually required meat to make... Or it was a burrito... But when you go to make an actual burrito? You'll get it wrong! Because you need a completely different combination of items! All because it has a pepper next to it. But come on! It looks like a burrito and smells like it too! Why does it have two completely separate ingredient recipes?!

I could also barely see the peppers/mushrooms... So I had to constantly click on "how do I make this" thing!

THEN... How does one make croissants? In this game that is. You take the dough... You give it to the knife wielder to slice it... You take the sliced dough and bake it... Then you take the baguettes and you DIP THEM INTO THE CUPCAKE CREAM! They turn into CROISSANTS! *blinks a few times*

How do you make pineapple soup? You take a PLATTER of pineapples... Then put what looks like crushed ice into it and boom: the soup! But what happens if you give the SOUP to the knife wielder?! IT TURNS INTO A CLOUD CAKE!

Honestly, the game isn't bad... It just confused me on the items and then there were those bugs...

If you gotta get your TM on, you already know what to expect.

:)

Travel Cuisine Collector's Edition is a time management game developed by GameOn Production and published by 8Floor. You take on the role of Tammy, who just graduated from culinary school and wishes to have her own restaurant along with her friend Matthew. However, they have neither the experience nor the money to start up their own business. Fortunately, they spot an ad in a newspaper for a culinary tournament in which the contestants must cook dishes from various countries and the winners will get the means to start up their restaurant. Of course, Tammy is enthusiastic and wants to enter the contest, and Matthew goes along with it. That's the basic story premise, and I'll end my synopsis here to avoid spoilers and all that.

As for the gameplay, there are a total of four restaurants (Oriental, Mexican, Bakery/Sweets, and Hawaiian), and each restaurant has 15 levels. You can choose to play either in untimed or timed mode, but you can change this option at any time. In each level, you have to serve the customers as they enter the restaurant, cooking various dishes and such, and you get various boosters, such as a temporary freeze mode which freezes customers' patience levels. (If you choose to play in timed mode, you'll have only a limited amount of time to complete the level.) You'll get access to a shop area (and you earn coins from customers) before the start of the level in which you can purchase upgrades for the restaurant. For example, you can choose to upgrade customer tables so that customers will tip more. Although there are no Steam achievements or trading cards at the time of this review, there are several in-game trophies.

Now that I've gone over the story and gameplay, I'll move onto my critique. Despite that there are lots of cooking-based time management games out there, I never get tired of them, so I was excited to see Travel Cuisine make its way onto Steam. First, I enjoyed the story. It isn't the most original since there are quite a few other TMs out there about an aspiring cook who wants to have their own restaurant. However, the story is enjoyable enough, and I liked Tammy and Matthew as the main characters. There isn't much in the way of conflict, though. There's only the mention of a professional chef who is in the lead, but it seems a bit shady that he's participating in a contest that's meant for aspiring chefs. It goes without saying that our heroes end up triumphing over all the obstacles that are in their way. XD

As for the gameplay, it's enjoyable. I didn't have trouble with the mechanics and there's a tutorial that helps you get used to the game. Also, if you ever have difficulty remembering the steps to cook a dish, you can simply click and hold the mouse button over a customer's request and the instructions will be shown. In a few levels, there's a sticky note where, if you click on it, you'll get access to real life recipes. You can then access these recipes in the trophies area on the map screen. I found this to be a nice touch. All the in-game trophies were obtainable although I wish there were Steam achievements, especially considering the price point.

In regards to the art, it has that cartoony style, which feels appropriate for this game. There are comic book style scenes in between the restaurant chapters, and the colors feel vibrant. The art style gives off that fun, light-hearted mood. As for the music, I enjoyed listening to the tracks. Like the art, the tracks feel light-hearted, and I felt myself enjoying the levels as I got to listen to the music. The tracks fit well with the various restaurant themes and such.

Overall, would I recommend Travel Cuisine Collector's Edition? If you enjoy cooking-themed time management games and don't mind the lack of Steam achievements (although there are in-game trophies), then this is a fun game worth taking a look. For the price point, I would recommend waiting for a sale, especially if you're experienced with time management games. I finished this up in about 4.5 hours, so it felt like time flew by. However, it was fun and enjoyable, and I'd recommend giving it a look. ^^

Flying free and writing reviews solely for The Introverted Gamer.

Love time management games and happy to see more being added to Steam, but this one isn't enjoyable atm. It needs polishing, e.g. so we aren't forced to click multiple times around an item to catch its hit box. Also needs balancing to make the upgrades actually useful and challenging to afford.

The fish recipes are terrible; there are too many recipes using the same ingredients and equipment, just in a different order. Would be much clearer and more satisfying to add different ingredients/dishes instead.

It's unintuitive and frustrating when some items can be put back down (cooked chicken) while others can't (maki). (Or maybe maki CAN be put down, but I simply couldn't find the hit box for it.)

Visuals are appealing. Soundtrack is passable. The game mechanics just need improving.

So far as value for the price goes, I think that at just under $5, this game is a bit over priced...
There has already been a review of this game that was quite thorough and complete...I am not going to reword that here.

I think that with all that has already been said in the previous review, that this game should have delivered a bit more. I was able to complete it outside my required time frame to price ratio...which is, 50 cents per hour of play time... but I do make exceptions and it fell within one of my exceptions: that I MUST get at least one hour of play time for each dollar I spend on a game...Barely scraped by. Hey, that's just how I roll...I completed the game in 6 hours. But, I got the game on sale, so it WAS worth it for me.

Don't get me wrong, this is a nice TM game and I really did enjoy playing it despite the annoyances that popped up now and again. I enjoyed the complexity even while it made little sense and was annoying. But this company has some great TM games and I really expected much more with this one.

All in all, it was worth the cost and I really enjoyed playing it. The music was a bit annoying in this one at times also...work on that guys...better ambiance!