Trevor Chan's Restaurant Empire

"From the soup to dessert, a fine game!"

The Plot:

You are Armand, a freshly graduated chef seeking work. After travelling to Paris, you find your Uncle has closed up his old restaurant due to tough competition from Omnifood, a multinational corporation with a 68% near monopoly on the food and drink market. Your task: to re-open your Uncle's restaurant, turn it into a profit maker and expand. Through ingredient suppliers, customers with secret recipes, cooking tips and practice, you must defeat the corporate giant, winning cooking contests along the way.

Graphics: 7/10

People: 4/10 This is the game's main weak point. They look very flat and ugly, to be honest. However, the other graphics make up for it.
Objects: 9/10 Tables and furniture are clear cut and pretty (in most cases). The dishes look delicious as well!
Misc: 8/10 Buildings look their part, especially such landmarks as The Eiffel Tower and The Coliseum.

Sound: 7/10 Ambient effects are well done, such as chairs moving and dishes sizzling. The lack of voices drags this score down as well (apart from customers mumbling). The music is often cheesy, but at other times enjoyable.

Gameplay: 10/10 This is where the game really shines. The camera is very easy to move and the interface is very user friendly. Things you need to know are there and there are quite a few options to help you get the looks you want.

Fun: 9/10 Another strong point. You can change your menu and it's quite fun experimenting with your restaurants looks. Although sometimes you can get a slow period in customers and events. Now on to my favourite part: the cooking contests, a very original concept. You build up your chef's stats in food preparation to participate; it requires a fee to enter, but pays out more cash, a medal, secret dishes and a reputation boost, and can range from preparing a soup, to making a full 4 course meal.

Buy or rent: Buy, definitely. This is a 'buy' game, spanning 18 scenarios of decent length and containing a freeform mode with unlockable characters as well. Any business sim fans will love this one, as well as food fanatics.

Bon appetit!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/08/04