Diner Dash

Diner Dash is a fast-paced strategy game where you build up a restaurant from rags to riches.

In Diner Dash, you play as a spunky young woman named Fio who is dissatisfied with her current job. Quitting without thinking too much, she spots a run-down old diner in the city and decides to help fix it up. To do this, of course, she needs to make money – and to do that, she has to dive headfirst into her new job as a waitress.

As you might expect from playing as a waitress, the player (as Fio) needs to take orders from customers, bring them to the chef, and then bring the food back to each customer. The game is played primarily from a top-down perspective, where the player navigates Fio from table to table as she carries food to customers dressed in distinctive red, yellow and blue.

Each phase of play is very detailed. For example, after serving customers, Fio must provide them with the check, and after that, the dishes they used need to be cleared off the table, making room for the next round of customers. Each customer tips differently, as well, and this is affected by their mood – a mood that plummets the longer the player takes to serve them! Although their mood can be improved by chatting them up or serving them drinks, this takes time all to its own, and could negatively affect customers at other tables who aren't being served. Thus, the strategy element!

Of course, the game is a bit unrealistic, but its premise and art style – as well as its story, which gets cheerfully goofy as it proceeds – should tip you off to that! It would be very unfortunate to wait on people as impatient as those in Diner Dash, but it makes for a good, fast-paced game. If you're looking to pass the time and have fun doing it, Diner Dash will probably have at least a little appeal to any casual gamer.

Pros

• Surprisingly fast-paced
• Quick and easy to play
• Cheery storyline and art style make the game accessible

Cons

• A little bit repetitive after you've beaten the story