Given the huge success of their freemium games Virtual City Playground and The Secret Society, it is no surprise that G5 Entertainment is taking the ‘freemium sandbox’ route with more of their properties. Stand O’Food is a popular time-management game series, and with Stand O’Food Empire you can now build new restaurant chains with Ronnie, Nikki and Clarence !
Type of app: Open-ended time management, empire building game
Platform/where to buy: iPad; available in the iTunes App Store
Developer: G5 Entertainment
Description:
Are you ready to build your burger dynasty? Stand O’ Food® Empire, the free-to-play time management burger-serving game based on our successful Stand O’ Food franchise, is finally here!
? 200+ challenging quests to complete
? 271 unique recipes to master and serve clients
? 96 decorations to beautify your popular eateries
? 63 buildings to enliven and support your city
? 25 factories and farms to supply your business
? Riveting storyline and stunning artwork
Major features:
Games like Stand O’Food and Supermarket Mania challenge players to complete an increasingly complex set of tasks in fixed times to make progress. They are loads of fun, but are constrained to following a set storyline with beginning and end.
But what if you were suddenly responsible for the production of crops, milling grains and managing cattle in order to meet your supply needs? That is where things get interesting in Stand O’Food Empire. The game reminds me of a mashup of Virtual City with Stand O’Food, and it works very well as a result.
You need to manage the flow of products in your restaurants to build up your chain as you did in previous games. This involves making products to meet customer needs with an unpredictable raw material supply. Meeting needs allows you to upgrade your restaurants to make even more profit and attract higher-end clients.
As you build up your restaurants, you will also need to build up the neighboring regions – homes, farms, and more! Similar to Virtual City Playground, using strategy can pay huge dividends down the road in terms of profits and expansion.
Of course, you are dealing with the evil Mr. Torg throughout as he tries to impede your progress and make your life miserable! But working diligently you can succeed!
Ease of use/Overall performance:
Because Stand O’Food combines multiple casual genres, if you have played any of the time management or city-building games you will easily adapt to the combined requirements.
Technically Stand O’Food Empire works very well at integrating the city builder and resource management mechanics into the existing time-management game. Graphics are excellent and the gameplay style meshes perfectly between the two core types. The touch-screen skills flow naturally between areas – you never feel like these are two games bolted together.
Because this is a ‘freemium’ game there is natural concern about how much of a ‘real money’ pull there is, and while buying in-game items using actual money is there, I never felt overly pushed or coerced, and never spent money to make progress in the game.
Would use again/recommend?: Definitely! I have put a number of hours into the game and found it to be a blast to play – it is a good balance of challenge and fun, and a solid mix of game types. And if they handle this like Virtual City Playground, you can be sure there will be plenty of updates in the weeks and months to come!
Suggested changes/wish list for updates: Nothing
Source: Publisher provided review code
Price: Free download, with in-app purchases available but not required for full experience