Overcooked!

[Hendo]

If ever a game needed online play, then this is the one.

You play as 1 to 4 people all doing jobs in a kitchen making meals for people to order.

If you had a full crew then you could designate jobs like, "you wash the dishes, I'll slice the veggies", etc but I played it with 2 of us and it's tough going. The idea of playing it solo just baffles me.

 

Strictly offline co-op though so I may never see a 4 player game happen.

 

It gets pretty ridiculous as well when the stages start shifting and suddenly all your plans go out the window when you can no longer get to each other because the two trucks that you're cooking on top of have moved lanes and there's no way to get to each other.

 

It's only 2 button and stick game, so if you're on the Switch you can use a Joycon each. Good fun but fucking stressful.

[regemond]

if this was an online game I'd genuinely pay whatever they asked to get a game going with people on here.

 

If it could be offline or people on your friends list it'd be a fantastic concept.

 

As it stands I have no friends that would be up for this one so it's unfortunately not something I can dive into. Like you said, single player is a baffling concept for this one. It's a shame.

[Hendo]

I tried single player earlier to see how it worked and it was possibly the saddest experience I've ever had playing a game. 

 

Not fun and just a stupid experience. I wish they'd make it online but doesn't look like they have any plans to.

[DisturbedSwan]

Yeah, I was so up for this and then I found out there was no online co-op and it killed it, would've been incredible online

[Pikman]

OK so question, a guy and I might start playing this at work. Is it not worth it with just two?

[retroed]

I have only played it two-player local at work, at launch, and it is a lot of fun. Think we got part way through the third world, must get back to it soon. It's tricky, though! The framerate is a bit stuttery in handheld/tabletop mode, but there was a patch the other day which may have fixed it. 

 

It's impossible as a single-player experience. 

[Hendo]

Yeah, 2 player is doable at least for a bit. When they first released it on PC last year there was talk about adding in online if it proved popular. 3 more versions and a couple of DLC packs later and still nothing.

[Craymen Edge]

It's definitely a case of the more players the better for this game. I've played a little bit with 3 and 4 players. Four people is chaotic. 

 

It's really fun, but I find it a bit too stressful to play for long.  

[regemond]

2 year bump!

 

Been playing this offline with Rosie the last week or so. It's great fun!

 

She's a stubborn gamer so refuses to move onto the next level until we get three stars on each one, which has meant we've been stuck from time to time. Not a massive issue though, once we get into a rhythm and find the best way to split responsibilities we fly through them. We're currently on level 4-3 (I think) - one in a ghost house where the gimmick is that certain tiles move at set times. We're still struggling to get the best routine for that one, but I reckon we'll go back and smash it tomorrow night.

 

I don't play couch co-op very often, but I'm REALLY enjoying this game. Can't wait for the second one to get discounted on PS4 again.

[regemond]

I've finally discovered why this game makes you swear at 'friends'.

 

Reached a lava level. It's a basic square shape with different responsibilities in each corner. And thin walkways between each corner. And a gun that shoots fireballs vertically through the middle of the screen. And the thin walkways regularly rearrange themselves so you never have a straight run to all four corners.

 

This level did NOT go well. At all.

[regemond]

So like I said in the games you've completed thread, 5 months of effort went into this. From start to finish, Rosie and I chipped away at it. Most of the time communication worked really well. We found a rhythm with a lot of levels and both had our own little jobs to sort. One or two were absolute bastards. Like the one with blocks of ice flowing in opposite directions. Or the space level where you had to spin the compartments to get ingredients and send food out.

 

But the last level - hoooooooly shit the last level was ridiculous. A multi-part stage with an unskippable cutscene at the start. After communicating really well for the whole game, it all went out of the window on the final boss. We got through it, eventually, but not without a nice bit of bickering and blaming each other for the fuck ups.

 

Still wanna do the DLC, but maybe we should give it a day or two before we attempt it...

[shinymcshine]

Well done, my missus & I got a bit fed up of having to redo the early parts of that final level, and eventually just bailed out on it, as it got to the point of no longer being fun.

 

Tried the Festive Seasoning DLC and it was pretty tough (if you're trying to 3* each level), the Lost Morsel one didn't seem quite as hard.

[mfnick]

I wished this had a easier mode. Or just let you carry on unlocking levels without more stars. My partner loves it but just isn’t very good no matter how much we play so never got to see the later levels due to not being able to get higher star ratings. And we got bored of playing the early levels eventually. Shame because it’s a fantastic co-po game  otherwise.

[shinymcshine]

IIRC you get money from making & serving any food and bonus money for making the right orders (and deduction for missing orders).

 

So it might be possible just to make basic recipe (1/ 2 ingredient) food repeatedly, and in sufficient quantity to get at least 1* and progress (rather than taking time with those 4 ingredient mixes)?

 

But, re-reading your issue, it's the higher quantity of stars you need to unlock levels isn't it (so my suggestion doesn't really help).

[regemond]

If you send out the wrong order you don't get any points unfortunately. Otherwise you'd be able to just repeatedly send out (for example) a burger bun.

 

Rosie started playing it on her own from the start and that helped a hell of a lot, I think. Levels we'd struggled with before we absolutely smashed first or second time. We had about 7 levels left to play yesterday and hammered through them all.

[mfnick]

1 hour ago, shinymcshine said:

But, re-reading your issue, it's the higher quantity of stars you need to unlock levels isn't it

Yea this is the issue. I understand we’re probably not good enough as a team for the later levels if we can’t get all the stars but it would be nice to have even the option to play them even just for a change of scenery. Or even just make it so you have to get at least 1 star. Even though we’re not very good I bet we could scrape at least one star from them. Ah well. 

[shinymcshine]

3 hours ago, regemond said:

If you send out the wrong order you don't get any points unfortunately. Otherwise you'd be able to just repeatedly send out (for example) a burger bun.

 

Okay, couldn't remember for sure, but you do get money for any of the outstanding orders, so you can forgo the trickier ones that come in & prioritise the easier ones perhaps?

[regemond]

Yeah, that'd work. You only lose 10 points for a missed dish, but you get at least 20 points for a completed dish, plus anywhere up to 6 points for a tip on top.

 

So we played a level last night off the DLC - here's a pic:

 

 

The green button at the bottom, and the grey/white one at the top, move the centre partition from left to right. This means each character only has access to one quarter of the screen at a time. My job was to retrieve/pass ingredients, before eventually helping to chop, Rosie's was chopping and cooking. Then also washing dishes. From the points we worked out we needed a minimum of 8 burgers to get three stars, so we started by getting 5 patties, then 5 buns. Then worked on the veg on an ad-hoc basis.

 

It sounds chaotic, and it was, but by getting the bare minimum sorted at the start, we gave ourselves a cushion and had the chance to sort the extra stuff as we needed to.

 

But that's one of the harder levels, reading about it this morning there's a better tactic we could have used but just didn't think of it. 

 

It's the same with burritos - you always need rice and a wrap. Pizzas always need cheese and tomato. Soup is always three ingredients. If you can work out the bare minimum it's a lot more manageable when you have to deal with the screen manipulating itself every thirty seconds. Or having to pass ingredients to one another.

[regemond]

So, possibly the final update for this game - Rosie is a stubborn soul and has been playing this in single player since we finished it together.

 

She finished it tonight. Three stars every level. Not gonna lie - I'm impressed. Manipulating the two characters separately, working everything out for each dish, basically doubling the amount of work she had to do. The girl did good!

[regemond]

Huh, three-year bump. 

 

With a dearth of co-op titles we can be bothered installing, and Fortnite being an asshole the last couple of days, we reinstalled/restarted this, but the All You Can Eat Edition for PS5.

 

First thing is, this version seems a lot more forgiving. We haven't failed a level yet, and are regularly getting around 1.5-2x the points needed. It's definitely a title that stands the test of time, too. The distinctive graphics and isometric viewpoint mean it doesn't need to have all the bells and whistles you'd expect from a big game, and it also means you forgive the odd glitch a lot more.

 

I'm honestly really enjoying it right now, and I'm looking forward to getting back to it over the next few days. Still not looking forward to the DLC, though...