Restaurant Empire

Additional Screenshots

Did you ever want to own a restaurant? I doubt it, but hey, why don't you instead sit down and read on about Restaurant Empire, a new 3D simulation from Reveille and Enlight. Plus, for you simulation fans, this is about the only game you can play now other than The Sims. Unfortunately, this game isn't my cup of tea, but hey, there comes a time in everyone's life to be different.

The Story Behind the Food

So, I was like, cool, I can be this chef dude and make myself a little empire, so I willingly sat down and began to play. There was a little cinematic about how you're this guy who has an uncle as a chef and you want to follow in his footsteps. Uh, ok… nice to hear you idolize your uncle, but let's continue on. I clicked on ‘new game' and got the keys to my uncle's restaurant! Yay, all I need to do is create this good little place and have profits. Sounds easy? Well, it was in a way, as well as a lot of fun. Just like the Sims, any building you control has TONS of options on what to do. However, don't go thinking that it's easy...

Sandbox Mode

Continuing on, I took the little tutorial on what the heck to do and decided it's sandbox time! Here, you control an “empire” with your choice of money, city, and so on. The city choices were cool because you could set up a restaurant in Paris, L. A., or Rome. Also, there was an option for what chef you wanted, and you were able to specialize his/her cooking style, appearance, amount of starting money, name of restaurant, city it is located in, and company color (still haven't figured that out.)

Designing a Restaurant

So when you finally begin to play the game, you actually can design your restaurant to the last detail! This was basically the climax of the game, but it was pretty cool. With the ability to add different tables, bathrooms, and change the color of the floor, I was pretty impressed. Even surpassing The Sims, this game allows you to customize your staff. Sweet.

Additional Screenshots

You can hire these French dudes and dudettes to serve your tables and when they don't perform well, you can lower their salary to pennies or give them a pink slip. Ha, that was really cool in my opinion. Also, you can customize the menu and add foods that you think people will like, things you like, and “specialties” of the chefs you have hired. The option of changing food prices has been added for the greedy people, which can turn your restaurant into a snob hangout. When the restaurant of yours opens, people come pouring in, with the live action of them sitting down, going to the bathroom, and eating. Sometimes, if you are lucky, people will come to the restaurant and offer tips on how to improve the food. A little cinematic ensues and you have the option to answer the questions however you want and, once or twice, have the option to get money by selling your prized recipes. The game continues like this for a while, and you can keep upgrading your restaurant, being able to add a giant crab on top of your place once you achieve 3 stars and own a seafood place. Eventually, the computer opens up a restaurant and it becomes a battle for control over the food in the city, which can turn out to be fun.

The Makeshift Campaign Mode

The only other real function of this game is the makeshift campaign mode. Here is where you are given control of your uncle's old restaurant (it sucks) and you have the chance to refurbish it to make it successful. As the campaign continues, you have to compete with Omni Food, this corporation that is overrunning the city and causing small businesses to go out of business. The campaign had no real flaws but I thought the storyline was rather weak.

Overall

Sadly, this game had no other modes, although I would have liked to see a multiplayer version where you can steal customers from your friends. That was all the game had to offer in my opinion, but as they say- quality is better than quantity.