Food Truck Simulator PC Review
Summary: Start your own food truck business and feel your blood pressure rise!
3.6
Stress Simulator
It is arguably because of Jon Favreau’s Chef that I wanted to give Food Truck Simulator a try. The core premise is the same… you set out to be a successful food truck operator, in the case of Food Truck Simulator it is to follow in your late father’s footsteps (via taking over his equipment which you have inherited). But your nemesis in Food Truck Simulator isn’t a food critic, it’s a rival food truck operator who you will fight (in questionable means) to secure your spot as the best food truck operator in town.
The start of the game sets up the whole notion of inheriting the business from your dad… remembering being around him while he was working his food truck. You are guided through this stage by Clara, sort of an old friend of the family who wants to help you get set up and will be your source for ingredients. Clara helps you find your way around things and get set to start getting out and selling fast food from your mobile kitchen. Naturally this serves as the tutorial as well and will get you used to the process of taking orders, sorting out your packaging and ingredients and preparing the meals. Once you start getting the hang of it all, the difficulty jumps a notch with multiple orders coming in and different delivery times… just because an order came in first doesn’t mean it needs to go out first. Time management is what it’s all about.
After working up a sweat you head home and this is where the bitter rivalry rears it’s ugly head… your garage, where you keep your food truck and all your supplies (and sleep) is burnt down. Apparently you never took out insurance (or perhaps just have to wait while the claim is processed) as you find yourself having to work for someone else to build up funds to get yourself back on your feet. If you want a bit of story with your simulation game then I guess this might make it interesting… personally I would have been happy just trying to keep my sanity while dealing with ever more complicated order from ever less patient customers.
As mentioned, the game essentially boils down to time management. An order comes in, it has a set time to be prepared and served in to be accepted… that means you have to grab all the ingredients and packaging and process them all in the right order to be as efficient as possible. But you need to be careful because order number 5 might need to be delivered before order number 4, if you are lucky they have some shared ingredients so you can at least prepare a portion of both at the same time… but be careful you note how the customer wants their burgers or bacon in case you provide them with medium rare when they wanted well done or crispy. What starts as a fairly easy going bit of van based cooking, soon becomes a hectic juggling act of orders, ingredients and preparation. When you figure out the best order to do things it can feel like a real achievement… when you keep fumbling and messing up the cutting of a tomato or bun and you can see the time keep slipping away, you can feel the beads of nervous sweat form on your head.
In between panicked cooking sessions you can (and will have to) drive around town… doing so allows you to find some upgrades and bonuses… you can also go full GTA and run over anyone but with the bonus that no one seems to care. Clearly more attention was paid to the authenticity of the cooking rather than the driving.
Final Thoughts?
Overall it’s like many simulation games in that if you get in to it… you can find yourself somewhat zoning out to it and it can be a lot of fun. But it can also cause a lot of stress if you just can’t find your rhythm. Ultimately, not without fault… but a decent bit of fun can be had and for a reasonable price too.
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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