I have played some cooking team games before such as Overcooked, but I was not ready for the pure panic and mayhem when it came to Yogscast Games Plate Up!
Developed by It’s Happening you must work side by side with your teammate to get cooking and make sure time doesn’t run out mixing cooking management with roguelite elements definitely proves cooking and running a restaurant is a very stressful job! So, my fellow gamers grab yourself a plate and Plate Up!
Who Wants Toast?!
Gameplay
Plate Up! story-wise doesn’t really have a story but more looks into the stress of running a restaurant in a single-player or classic coop adventure, and believe me the stress is there, especially with the number of customers and the amount of time you actually have to complete each order.
So usually, I dive deep into the story before the gameplay, unfortunately in this review, I will be focusing more on the gameplay aspects. There is no story and Plate Up! is merely more a fun, stressful cooking management to enjoy with friends.
So, to start you have an option to choose a layout you prefer for every playthrough you do, with an option of two sets. You are also able to pick the item or meal you want to create such as a salad, steak, and many others as you progress you will unlock new recipes for your restaurant.
If you want to practice, then your adorable cats that walk about will sit up at the table and order which allows you to get into a bit of practice plus with a time limit to get used to it. In your restaurant, as you progress to the end of every day you will accumulate money that can be used to upgrade your kitchen with new appliances, more plates, an extra sink, and many more.
If these current blueprints are not what you’re looking for then fear not my cooking companions! REROLL and this may give you exactly what you need, of course, you have to pay for it! So how does gameplay in the restaurant work?
Don’t worry I will explain all of this now. So in the restaurant, you have a day display bar, this is presented in different events so a circle, this is just a normal basic day, cook, give the customers their orders and so on. You will also have to clean up grease, wash plates for the next customer, and make sure everything is right as rain.
Once a day ends you are rewarded with coins, these coins buy different blueprints, and this carries on. Once you reach the star you will be offered just like in a lot of roguelike games, a choice of a card.
This can make life easier for your restaurant giving you more time but fewer customers or if you are feeling saucy up the difficulty a choice the more difficult choice. Reaching a bookmark will let you choose a theme for the restaurant and the brush lets you decorate or as the game tells you “It’s Decoration Day!”.
The game progresses until you reach the ribbon which gives you a brand-new franchise card, for your next run. Anything you unlock can be added from the warehouse such as an extra life or other helpful pick-me-ups. If you sadly fail to deliver a customer’s order, your restaurant is shut down, ending your current cookery mayhem!
You can always go into practice mode, to get the hang of everything. In the kitchen say for example your customers want a steak, a picture will show what kind of steak they want, rare, medium rare, and well done. If you grant the customer the wrong order, they will not take it, and you will waste time and patience.
If an object or appliance is in your way and you want to move it, at the end of the day you can pick it up and rearrange the kitchen or dining room. The customer phase is the main course of Plate Up! This is how much time is left in the day, make sure to serve all available customers or you will fail.
Oh no you failed! That’s okay, it’s not the end of your restaurant forever, each end will also grant you levels that you’ve gained, new items for your garage, and even headquarters expansions.
Plate Up! is full of many neat surprises and features as you progress and another bonus with being able to play with up to 4 players in cooperative, you can choose whatever colour your character is, plus use the mirror to change your clothes to a chef outfit to a waiter or, even just wearing an apron!
The best part of Plate Up! is the teamwork, me and my friend who assisted me in this review, covered taking the orders whereas Moi decided to be a chef. Unfortunately, that was a little more hectic than I thought, and our kitchen was shut down…
Oops, hey what are you gonna do though? Try again! Remember also to upgrade using the upgrade tree on your appliances!
Order Up!
Graphics and Audio
Graphically Plate Up! comes out looking nice, and colourful plus with the different themes and decorations you can truly make your restaurant your own.
I must admit the game could do with a little more polishing to give it the life to reach the ranks of other cooking management games. Using a more hand-drawn art style. I must admit it was a lot more unique than I expected and the characters you play kind of have a more 3D character model although I would have loved a few more designs for customers.
Audio such as music and effects are okay, music is not bad but nothing that sets off your adrenaline or gives it the right atmosphere with the stress of running the restaurant.
Hope You’re Hungry
Options and Accessibility
Plate Up! has only volume options for both the effects and music that can be adjusted. Accessibility has options for those who may be colour blind or night darkness.
At the moment nothing to help with any gamers who may find this game difficult with the controls but to be honest, control-wise it’s pretty straightforward forward with not a lot of difficulty when controlling your character.
Final Thoughts
Plate Up! was a fun cooperative experience, with a good amount of laughs, that had me and my buddy laughing for hours. Galadrius The Mighty also helped cover Plate Up! which we had a blast checking out! If you enjoy games where managing a restaurant or the hectic running of cooking management is up your street, then check this out! This is also available to try in Xbox Game Pass Ultimate! Plus with loads of achievements to earn and some being 100 Gamerscore definitely worth to checking out and having a laugh with friends!
Plate Up! is AVAILABLE NOW! on Xbox, Steam, PlayStation and Switch
GAMERHUB RATING: THREE (Out of FIVE) JOYSTICKS
(Thank you Chris from 1UP PR and the teams at Yogscast Games and its happening for providing the codes for this review)
