New Software To Be Reviewed Review
Penguin Diner – Youda Games
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You can buy it at RegNow for that price.
Simple concept, well executed. A fun, free game.
Teeth grindingly bad soundtrack.
Penny the Penguin has chosen adventurously to follow in the footsteps of other diner owners, such as Flo from Diner Dash, and set up her own chain of restaurants in the North Pole. You need to assist her in managing the constant supply of hungry customers and make as much in tips as possible.
GAMEPLAY
Like other games of this kind the gameplay focuses primarily on your skills as a time manager and the speed and accuracy with which you can click the mouse. Customers enter the café, request service and if satisfied leave you a tip based on your performance. Dissatisfied customers will storm out in a huff if left untended for too long, affecting your final score.
It is a concept that has been tried and tested many times before and the only real difference in this version is that all the customers are penguins of gradually degrading levels of patience.
As you progress through the levels your bank balance grows allowing you to purchase improvements such as comfier seats to increase customer patience or speedier skates for Penny to serve customers more quickly.
There are a few annoying quirks in the usability of the game, such as there is no obvious indicator that Penny has accepted an order from a customer. You have to take it on blind faith that the order will appear on the counter having once been prepared by the invisible chef.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
The graphics, whilst not exactly ground breaking are cute and good enough to keep you entertained throughout the progress of the game.
The soundtrack however becomes increasingly irritating the longer you play with it turned on. It consists entirely of the famous track ‘Zorbas Dance’ from the movie ‘Zorba the Greek’. At first you might think this to be a stroke of genius on the developers part and may be half-expecting the tune to naturally speed up as the pressure within the game mounts. Sadly this turns out to be a missed opportunity on the developers part as it turns out to be only the first few bars of the tune on a constant torturous loop.
Whilst certainly nothing new it is a simple and solid concept which makes this game entertaining enough for a casual session or two. However the soundtrack is painful and unless you mute the sound playing for any length of time becomes impossible.