Restaurant City

My first review will be of the game Restaurant City. As a side note I do my best to play the game for about a week or so before reviewing, this allows me to understand more about each game and make better decisions.

Restaurant City is a restaurant simulation game that allows you to take control of your own restaurant and decide things such as food choices, table layouts, and themes. You also get to hire friends to be either waiters, cooks, or cleaners to work in your restaurant. The game is highly customizable, you can purchase additional clothes, different styles of furniture, wallpaper, flooring, and more.

The game is played by using your hired friends to make dishes, serve them, and then gain money from each dish served. When a customer successfully finishes a dish they will give you a popularity point, as they rise so do the number of customers. As you level several things can happen; your restaurant can get larger, you can have the ability to hire a new friend, or you can serve an additional dish.

Dishes vary in style and taste, each requires a number of ingredients to be able to cook. Once you unlock the dish you don't need the ingredients again unless you wish to level up the dish. Each dish gives a certain number of gourmet points which are the points that level your character up. If you choose to level up a dish you will gain more gourmet points which mean faster leveling. Ingredients are required to level up dishes, these can be found in friends restaurants, though unlike most facebook games you only receive a reward (ingredient) the first time you visit compared to every day.

This game is not a time based game meaning you can go into the game and instantly start benefiting (compared to a game like Mafia Wars where it is possible to run out of things to do for a given time period). As time goes on though, your workers will require food or sleep to replenish their health meters.

Pros:

• You always have something to do or micromanage (redecorating, searching for ingredients, feeding workers, etc)
• Updates for the game seem frequent, at least monthly
• The game is very nice to look at, the visuals are well thought out
  

Cons:

• Experience is only earned while in the game(though money is earned while offline)
• Certain times of the day are incredibly slow, you may disconnect often
• Perfectionists may have a problem with needing thousands of ingredients and thus thousands of friends to max out all of the dishes
  

Score: 7/10

Restaurant City is a great game, though improvements can always be made. The game is still in Beta and suffers from the occasional glitch. The graphics are very nice and the overall flow of the game seems just right, I feel that the rewards I receive match my efforts.

Rating System

Here are the guidelines I have given myself for my own rating system. Read if you choose, this is more for my reference:

10 - Perfect: A perfect 10 game would be considered the pinnacle of online games. This game would be out of beta and all advertised aspects of the game would be implemented (for example, games that are the full version, but have a button for a feature that is labeled "coming soon", plans for updating and updates in general are good, but buttons lacking functionality give the sense of an unfinished game). This game would be free from disconnect errors (except during the most busy hour of play), glitches, bugs, or any other programming flaws. Exploits and game cheats are quickly discovered and fixed. The visuals of the game including graphics, animation, and layout are all uniform and would be considered to be of professional quality. Pacing of the game is perfect, there is a sufficient wait time between actions, rewards, etc so that the average player does not easily become bored and there is plenty to do before being forced to wait a set amount of time. Although numerous clones of the game may exist this particular game sets the standard through innovation, frequent updates, and that extra spark which leaves the other clones in the dust. The paid benefits of the game are highly desirable, while allowing paid players to progress much faster than non-pay players, the non-pay players are not locked out of content (forcing players to pay for content goes against the nature of all Facebook games).

9 - Astonishing: A game with a ranking of 9 is absolutely incredible. This game would be out of beta technically, but certain game features might not yet be enabled. This game would be free of disconnect errors (except for the one hour peak time), bugs, glitches, or any other programming flaws. Exploits and game cheats are quickly discovered, but may not be fixed for several days. The visuals of the game including graphics, animation, and layout are all uniform and would be considered to be of professional quality. Pacing of the game is great, there is a sufficient wait time between actions, rewards, etc. Numerous clones of the game may exist and this game is without a doubt of a higher quality. The paid benefits of the game are highly desirable, while allowing paid players to progress much faster than non-pay players, the non-pay players are not locked out of content (forcing players to pay for content goes against the nature of all Facebook games).

8 - Excellent: A game with a ranking of 8 is really very good. This game would be out of beta technically, but several game features are not yet be enabled. This game would be free of disconnect errors (for at least half of a given day), though programming flaws such as glitches pop up very infrequently. Exploits and game cheats are quickly discovered, but may not be fixed for weeks, as a result numerous players may gain a significant advantage over even the pay players. The visuals of the game including graphics, animation, and layout are all uniform and would be considered to be of professional quality, but there are a few imperfections. Pacing of the game is good, there is a sufficient wait time between actions, rewards, etc. Numerous clones of the game may exist and this game is slightly above the pack. The paid benefits of the game are interesting, but not necessary; while allowing paid players to progress much faster than non-pay players, the non-pay players are not locked out of content (forcing players to pay for content goes against the nature of all Facebook games).

7 - Great: A game with a ranking of 7 is definitely a game you would want to play. This game could still be in beta, though you would hardly tell because of all of the finished features the game contains. This game would be free of disconnect errors (for at least half of a given day), though programming flaws such as glitches pop up every once in a while. Exploits and game cheats are discovered as users submit the information, but may not be fixed for weeks, as a result numerous players may gain a significant advantage. The visuals of the game including graphics, animation, and layout are all uniform and would be considered to be of professional quality, but there are a few imperfections. Pacing of the game is good, there is a sufficient wait time between actions, rewards, etc. Numerous clones of the game may exist and this game is slightly above the pack. The paid benefits of the game are interesting, but not necessary; while allowing paid players to progress much faster than non-pay players, the non-pay players are not locked out of content (forcing players to pay for content goes against the nature of all Facebook games).

6 - Very Good: A game with a ranking of 6 is a game worth your time. This game could still be in beta and there are probably quite a few unfinished features. This game would most likely have a fair amount of disconnect errors, programming flaws, and glitches, but they are fixed frequently (we are in beta right?). Exploits and game cheats are discovered as users submit the information, but may not be fixed for some time, as a result numerous players may gain a significant advantage. The visuals of the game including graphics, animation, and layout are all uniform and would be considered to be of professional quality, but there are several imperfections and possibly a layout error here and there. Pacing of the game is good, there is a sufficient wait time between actions, rewards, etc. Numerous clones of the game may exist and this game is slightly above the pack in some areas and slightly lacking in others. The paid benefits of the game are interesting, but not necessary; while allowing paid players to progress much faster than non-pay players, the non-pay players are not locked out of content (forcing players to pay for content goes against the nature of all Facebook games).

5 - Good: A game with a ranking of 5 might be worth checking out. This game would still be in beta so expect unfinished features. This game would most likely have a fair amount of disconnect errors, programming flaws, and glitches, but they are fixed frequently (we are in beta right?). Exploits and game cheats are discovered as users submit the information, but may not be fixed for some time, as a result numerous players may gain a significant advantage. The visuals of the game including graphics, animation, and layout are all uniform and would be considered to be above average quality, but there are several imperfections and possibly a layout error here and there. Pacing of the game is good, there is a sufficient wait time between actions, rewards, etc. Numerous clones of the game may exist and this game is quite similar to most of them. The paid benefits of the game are interesting, but not necessary; while allowing paid players to progress much faster than non-pay players, the non-pay players are not locked out of content (forcing players to pay for content goes against the nature of all Facebook games).

4 - Okay: A game with a ranking of 4 might be something to avoid. This game would still be in beta so expect many unfinished features. This game would most likely have a fair amount of disconnect errors, programming flaws, and glitches, but the developers might be doing this one on their own time, making fixes every month or so. Exploits and game cheats are not much of a problem due to the lower popularity of the game, though the few who know about them can get away with them. The visuals of the game including graphics, animation, and layout are mostly uniform and would be considered to be above average quality, but there are several imperfections and layout errors here and there. Pacing of the game is okay, there may be some balancing problems between actions, rewards, etc. Numerous clones of the game may exist and this game is about par. The paid benefits of the game are interesting, but not worth investing in; while allowing paid players to progress much faster than non-pay players, the non-pay players are not locked out of content (forcing players to pay for content goes against the nature of all Facebook games).

3 - Needs Work: A game with a ranking of 3 is probably something to avoid. This game would still be in beta, maybe even alpha, so expect many unfinished features. This game would most likely have a good amount of disconnect errors, programming flaws, and glitches, but the developers might be doing this one on their own time, making fixes every month or so. Exploits and game cheats are not much of a problem due to the lower popularity of the game, though the few who know about them can get away with them. The visuals of the game including graphics, animation, and layout are mostly uniform and would be considered to be novice quality; there are several imperfections and layout errors. Pacing of the game needs work, there may be some balancing problems between actions, rewards, etc. Numerous clones of the game may exist and this game is below average. The paid benefits of the game are interesting, but not worth investing in; paid features may include unlocking content, forcing players to make investments if they wish to progress.

2 - Bad: A game with a ranking of 2 is something to avoid. This game would still be in beta, maybe even alpha, so expect many unfinished features which make the game at times unplayable or make the user question the reasons they should continue to play. This game would most likely have a large amount of disconnect errors, programming flaws, and glitches, the developers are most likely novices or simply have too much to work on right now. Exploits and game cheats are not a problem, nobody finds this game worth the effort. The visuals of the game including graphics, animation, and layout are somewhat uniform, but it is clear there is little artistic talent. Pacing of the game needs a lot work, there may be some balancing problems between actions, rewards, etc. Numerous clones of the game may exist and this game is near the bottom. The paid benefits of the game are not worth investing in; paid features may include unlocking content, forcing players to make investments if they wish to progress.

1 - Terrible: A game with a ranking of 1 is not worth your time. This game would be in an unplayable or a near unplayable state. The developers are most likely novices who are simply learning to program and do not have the experience to fix their own errors. Exploits and game cheats are not a problem since most of the game features don;t work anyway. The visuals of the game including graphics, animation, and layout are not at all uniform and it is clear there is no artistic talent. Pacing of the game is non-existent, key elements of the game are unfinished. Numerous clones of the game may exist and this game is rock bottom. This game probably doesn't even have paid benefits.

Just the beginning

If you are anything like me then you probably find yourself continuously searching for fun little games to play online that are generally free. I have been doing this for as long as I can remember, back in the days of fun little "mini" games that could ease my boredom for all of 10 minutes.

With the increased popularity of Facebook several companies have emerged and several more are beginning to emerge which are creating web based games that are fun, free, and actually encourage repeat play. I scour Facebook for these games constantly, weeding out the good from the bad and trying to make note of games that have some potential.

Using my experience with online games i'll be giving a basic overview of games, new and old. There will be a rating system, 1-10, which will allow me to be quite thorough with my process. I will outline my grading procedure in the next post.