Review: Cooking Dash 3: Thrills and Spills

Type: Time Management
Platform: PC and Mac
Price: USD 6.99 for the game or USD 13.99 for the Collector's Edition from Big Fish Games

The latest installment of the popular Cooking Dash/Diner Dash series starts with grandma and Flo visiting Mr Big's theme park. It reminds grandma of the time when a teenage Flo worked at the rundown theme park restaurants. The Collector's Edition includes an exclusive venue, a strategy guide, wallpapers and screensaver. The Collector's Edition is available for PC and Mac.

Gameplay
You sit the customers in the restaurant by dragging them to the tables. If you manage match the customers with the same color seat, you will get an additional bonus. The customers will then take a few seconds to read the menu before deciding on what to he/she wants to order. It is then up to Flo to cook and/or serve the dishes to the customers before the hearts run out. Some of the dishes are ready-to-serve while others will need you to cook them first.

Cooking dishes takes at least two steps. You have to bring the raw ingredients to the stove or grill or fryer, depending on the type of restaurant. Then halfway through the cooking process, you have to click on the stove again to flip the dish that is cooking. Although this action is optional, as in the dish will still be cooked regardless of whether you remember to flip, there are benefits if you remember to do it so you should try to flip the food if you can.

Before each stage, you can play a mini game. How well you do in the mini game will determine how many of a certain type of dish you have that is ready to serve at the start of the game.

Thoughts
This game is the latest in the Cooking Dash series, so it is nice to see that the developers have improved the graphics in the game. The visual style is still there but the lines look cleaner and neater. It's all just subtle differences but it's nice when you notice it. Each restaurant has its own theme look, theme song and theme dishes. It keeps the game interesting even though I am still doing more or less the same actions.

This game is still as addictive and fast paced as ever. My main problem with Cooking Dash games is that at some point, it will become too hard for me to continue on playing. This game is as difficult or as easy, depending on your skill level, as other games in the series. I still have to handle a lot of things at the same time and it's rather overwhelming in the later stages. It didn't help that most of the dishes cannot be prepared beforehand as they will get burnt or lose their freshness.

Verdict ★★★★★
Store page (PC and Mac)