Overcooked is probably one of the most addictive games I got my hands on at E3 2016. A simple game from a two-person studio called Ghost Town Games, this local co-op title is all about working together to get orders in and out of the kitchen as fast as you can. Think Cooking Mama multiplayer, but you’re Mama at your day job, and might also be a racoon, and you have to work together with your grumpy dog best friend to make sure each order has exactly what it needs and no more.
Different levels have different twists: one level I played was on a tilting ship that changed your mise en place with every bob of the waves, another forced players to transfer ingredients via conveyor belt, and yet another level took place on a highway, making you run between two cars but only when they were safely close to each other. (Oh, how many times my grumpy dog died in his eagerness to fulfill an order. Gone too soon, sweet prince.)
The gameplay is extremely simple. On the top left of the screen, order tickets appear. They’re completely visual: for example, a burger will have a picture of meat, buns and lettuce. That means they’ve ordered a burger but hold the tomato. One person needs to get the ingredients chopped up; someone else needs to get the ingredients onto the fire; someone else needs to watch the pot lest it boil over; and finally the ingredients need to be combined and sent out. On plates. And don’t forget to wash the dishes!
If you’ve got four players, you’re in luck, but only if your four players all have sense. Otherwise expect a lot of bumping into people, panicked excessive chopping of the wrong items, and fires in the kitchen. (So... a lot like a real kitchen, then.) There’s a grand feeling of achievement as the orders are sent off, especially when you get bonus tip points for orders completed in a timely fashion. Best of all, it’s couch co-op. Local multiplayer only, so all the obscenities shouted are by your actual friends, not by hateful ten-year-old gremlins.
If you’re in the market for a cute fun indie game with as much replay value as you’ve got friends, Overcooked looks to be a delight. It’s scheduled for a late 2016 release on Xbox One.
