It appears that everyone is jumping on the “back to the past” business method where nostalgia sells. Nintendo does it all the times and other companies have started to follow suit. Allow me to present Burger Time to the stand or in it’s current form, BurgerTime Party. BurgerTime Party was shown by XSeed games during E3 this year where we got our first taste of the updated graphics and feel for the next generation of Burgers. Fast forward to now and the game released on the Nintendo Switch eShop. Get the grills ready as we have a lot to hit on!
Peter Pepper returns to his kitchen and he looks better than ever in these updated graphics for the next generation of BurgerTime. We need to figure out what’s in those burgers that he’s eating cause he hasn’t aged a day since 1982, the original Burger Time. You’ll have to be a quick-thinking chef if you want to get through everything this BurgerTime has to offer such as new items and environmental hazards like falling floors/ice floors. One of the tougher hazards you’ll have to deal with is ladders that aren’t normal. What I mean by that is some ladders are hot, some are electrified and some will fall apart the minute you try to climb on them so use your judgment and speed if you want to climb them. I mentioned that there are interesting items to use like the pepper grinder or the drink that allows temporary invincibility. Again it will up to you how you use these items and when so you can score big points for the head chef!
You’ll have to traverse through different game modes as well such as playing the classic stages for points or the new, modern stages also for points. You’ll start out with the bare bones to pick from since the game wants you to learn the ropes and that isn’t a bad thing since the tutorial isn’t long. An issue I did have with it was if you needed to replay/restart a level you had to listen to the stage give you advice over and over again, without being able to speed through it. You’ll also have the option to play solo or with friends over 100 courses that make you feel like you’re playing the arcade cabinet like the good ole days. You’ll also be able to play for rankings against the top chefs online where you have limited supplies and the action gets pretty heated. You’ll have to limited your supplies as you won’t have them replenished overtime, you’ll get more by point total so use them wisely. One of the cooler new modes is where you can play with friends where one side is the chef and the other side becomes the ill-tempered food, out for vengeance. You’ll be able to come up with an unbeatable strategy where it’s dinner over for the chef or spoiled food for the foodies. This mode is local multiplayer so get your fellow chefs into your kitchen for a real food fight!
Some of the stages and puzzles were pretty tough but it was a nice welcome back for Peter Pepper and the foodies. There are trophies you can get for performing certain things like making a certain number of burgers or squashing a certain number of hot dogs but it looks like the trophies are for fun/completion status. It would have been neat if collecting these things unlocked different foods or chef outfits for Peter Pepper to wear. I would have liked to see some online play but not having it doesn’t ruin the game, it actually makes it feel more like a classic arcade cabinet where you and your friends have to be together to play together. Also you collect stars for top scores but why not something food related like soda cups or something?
I’m giving BurgerTime Party for the Nintendo Switch eShop an 8/10. I’d like to thank XSeed games for the review code.