4cr Review – Gourmania (iPhone)

As long as computers have had both graphics and the mouse, there have been “hide and seek” games. It’s a no-brainer, really. Hide a bunch of stuff on the screen and make the gamer click on it. Of course, the novelty wore kind of thin, and the genre disappeared from the limelight for awhile. Sure, the advent of flash-based browser games brought the genre back to some semblance of life, but it really took the iPhone to make it anything beyond a shambling corpse.

Now the things are everywhere! After all, the iPhone may not have buttons, but you can rub your grubby fingers all over that touchscreen. The major failing of most of these games is that, unless you’re a toddler, they get boring quickly. Where am I going with this? Well, if you read the title (and I’m assuming you did), you know that this is a review of some game called Gourmania. Where I’m going with this is that, yes, Gourmania is a hidden object game, but it is one that tries to overcome the limitations of its genre. How? By combining the hide-and-seek concept with a restaurant-owning sim.

Yeah, that sounds like total gibberish. Let’s back up a bit and I can explain. Gourmania puts you in the shoes of a amateur chef who aspires to make it big. Like how a young Pokemon trainer marches out into the world to defeat gym leaders, you have set off to take over eight restaurants, spread over sixty stages. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Just wait until you see the restaurants in question.

You see, this is where the hidden object part comes in. You have to build the customer’s requests quickly, or they’ll leave. The problem is that these are some of the messiest kitchens that I’ve ever seen (my apartment’s kitchen included). This is the “health code violation” kind of messy. Each customer’s order comes in as a list of ingredients, and you need to click on all of the right ingredients as well as the right cooking tool (basically, a pan or a knife). You’ll also have to take the time to grab their money when they are done. Oh, and new orders are pouring in the entire time. It’s surprisingly challenging, and you’re thrown into the deep end quickly. Fortunately, there is a pretty nice hint system to help you find the less obvious items. If you work quickly, you can get some bonuses, and the money you earn can be used for upgrades and new appliances.

As both a hidden object game and a restaurant sim, Gourmania screams “casual game,” but it is a pretty well-made one. The graphics look decent enough and there is a satisfying portable sim to be found here. The vicious time limit and extra little gameplay tweaks help keep the hide-and-seek formula from getting boring, so there’s something there for anyone looking to kill a few minutes. It’s only a dollar, so check it out if you need a new distraction on your iPhone.

Gourmania is available now for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and PC.

Gourmania (iTunes link)
Lite Version (iTunes link)