Game review: Brunch Club (Xbox One)
I always appreciate games that have unique premises and objectives. One of the most unique games I've played all generation was Octodad: Dadliest Catch. Sure the controls were hard to master at first, but I got used to them.
Another unique game I loved in the last few years was Job Simulator. The game was really fun using the PlayStation VR as well as the PlayStation Move controllers that acted like hands. Being a chef in the kitchen felt fun and rewarding.
Well, a new indie game has just been released for the Xbox One called Brunch Club. Much like the two games I just aforementioned, it too is a small indie game that has a lot of charm. However, the main thing that holds Brunch Club down is the controls on the Xbox One controller.
Before I talk about the controls, let's first discuss what Brunch Club is about. In this game, you have to make various food products using the controller. This may seem like an easy task, but it's much harder than it looks.
For example, the first mini-game I played was one where I needed to make some toast with butter. In real life making toast and butter is easy, but in Brunch Club it's impossible to do thanks to the controls of this game.
The main issue I have with the game is that some of the mini-games are just downright unplayable! You have to move around food and objects around the kitchen, but sometimes you cannot do simple tasks because other objects keep getting in the way.
The biggest problem with the toast mini-game is trying to place the bread inside the toaster itself. It's an impossible task because there is no jump button that allows you to make the bread jump inside. Instead, you have to rely on when the table shakes and then it's your opportunity to toast the bread.
Putting butter on the toast isn't too hard once you finally cook the bread. You have to use the analogue sticks to get a piece of the butter before you can spread it all over the toast. You only have a few minutes to make as much toast as you can, but it's hard because moving the bread to the toaster is near to impossible!
If you hate the toasting mini-game, you'll be happy to know that there are several other games that you can try out in Brunch Club instead. Two of the easiest mini-games in the entire game is making a subway-style sandwich and also making a scone with cream cheese and jam.
The subway sandwich mode is my favourite mini-game as it feels like you're actually inside a Subway store. All of the ingredients are there for you to use in containers, and the bread you use comes out of the oven warm and toasted. It made me feel hungry when I was playing it.
That being said, there are still problems with most of the game's other controls. One game is called the '5-second rule' and you have to guide food through many checkpoints. This is easier said than done because the food cannot touch the surface for more than five seconds.
The '5-second rule' game mode is downright unplayable as it's really difficult to move around the food without it touching the ground. I have no idea how to get through this mode so I left it out altogether because of its shoddy control system.
There are several other game modes that are much better. 'Main Course' is the meat of the game where you or a friend and cooperate and complete all of the food objectives. I had a lot of fun playing this mode with my brother despite some of the objectives being hard.
The other two modes in the game are for multiplayer madness. 'Face/Off' is pretty much a versus mode where you and other players compete in order to finish the tasks the fastest. 'Arcade' mode is similar where you can play other multiplayer games like food soccer or sumo wrestling with rice balls.
The multiplayer is only limited to offline gameplay, so you cannot connect to play with other people online. This didn't bother me too much though because I still had a lot of fun playing some of the game modes with my brothers.
Graphically, Brunch Club is far from the best looking Xbox One game I've played, but the visuals are nice and colourful throughout. The food and utensils are nicely animated and it was nice and clear to see where all of the objects were.
Brunch Club overall is an enjoyable little game with a unique idea, but the game falls short thanks to its poor execution. The game needs better controls because some of the game modes in this game are unplayable. If the game had a better control scheme, then it would have been much more enjoyable to play through.
Verdict: 6.5/10
