Overcooked! (Xbox One) - Review

Overcooked! is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £11.99.

I have always loved a good cooking game, there's something about them that just draws me in and keeps me interested. I used to really enjoy time management games too (though interest in them has waned slightly in recent years) so much so that I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who bought Diner Dash on the Xbox 360. Man that game was tough.

I was excited when I read about Overcooked! I think it's been long enough since I've played a dash game that I felt ready for the challenge again. Plus it's the beginning of the school holidays and I thought this game might be fun to dive into with my two little angels*. Hahaha, more fool me right?!

Overcooked! sees you take on the role of a chef in a series of awfully designed kitchens. Your performance during the level affects how many stars you earn and these stars are important because you'll need to have unlocked a certain amount for each level. You can play the game solo, but damn it is hard. You use your bumper to switch between your two chefs, so you can have one cutting the salad and the other frying the burgers, or washing the dishes for example. I found playing the game solo really difficult, but switching between coop and solo is seamless, you can continue your previously solo save with a friend and vice versa without changing any settings or losing any progress, so that's nice.

Overcooked! really shines when you play it cooperatively. Unfortunately there is no online functionality thus far and I'm not sure whether the developers ever hope to patch it in. While it'd be nice to be able to play online, the couch coop in this game is pretty perfect. For one it allows four players to use the same screen at once, which is becoming more an more unusual. Hell, trying to find a game that allows two players to use the same screen is pretty hard these days. Overcooked! delivers a lot of fun and is a perfect game to throw on when you have a few friends round and fancy spicing things up with an argument.

Yes, Overcooked! is infuriating. No matter how hard you try you will end up having a little tiff. The game is set up for it, from the way you can push the other chefs off the moving van to the controls that are sometimes slightly off meaning you put your freshly coked soup straight into the bin rather than the plate. But as infuriating as it is you will keep coming back for more, this game is the most addictive game I've played on my console for ages.

The graphics are all really cute, if a little mobile game-esque. The map you trundle through as you make your way through the various levels is gorgeous and full of little details like the trees moving as you drive through them. It's adorable.

And if you're worrying that you want in on the sweet coop action but haven't got four controllers, FRET NOT! Overcooked! has thought of every possibility and come up with a way for two people to share one controller. Yeah, prepare for waaaayyyy more arguments if you play it that way.

Overcooked! is frantic fun that you will keep going back to. Pin it to your home and attempt a level whenever you have five minutes to spare. It'll either have you laughing or crying by the end.

8/10 BUY IT!

*devils in disguise
A code was provided for the purpose of this review.