Everything's on fire, and there's meat everywhere. It's clear, as the timer starts blinking red furiously, that my sous chef and I might have to restart this level. Our burger making expedition hasn't exactly gone to plan, and it's mainly because we keep falling down chasms and getting caught out by the rotating plank of fry stations and plates. But that's just part of the manic, and regularly rather messy, fun of Overcooked 2.After the success of the co-op focused, super quirky, cooking game that was Overcooked, it was pretty much a sure fire thing that it was going to get a sequel. Well, as sure as fire is bound to happen in the game, which is pretty high to be honest.

Aug 07, 2018  Overcooked 2 undoubtedly shines in local co-op and the versus arcade modes. New recipes and obstacles provide a fresh challenge for veterans, but it remains approachable for new players with simple. Overcooked 2 review: 'Mad, manic and utterly hilarious'. The oh-so-fun, friendship ruining, co-op cooking carnage returns.

And boy, what a sequel this is.At its core, this is the same game as its predecessor. You're still a chubby little chef trying to overcome often ridiculous kitchen locations in order to get dishes out of the door. Ingredients need to be chopped, processed, fried, steamed, prepped, plated and served, but there will be plenty of obstacles in the way. And that's where Overcooked 2 really turns up the temperature over its predecessor, because these kitchens are seriously creative.

The game's story will see you travelling around the various lands of the Onion Kingdom trying to save people from the Unbread - yes, zombie toast, beware their crumbling flesh. The entire world is now interactive, with new levels (and hidden ones) reached using your amphibious air bus to push switches. Discovering the various new kitchens you'll be cooking in is brilliant fun, even if it is regularly daunting, as is the a wide range of recipes you'll discover, from the likes of pasta and dim sum to burgers and sushi. Hell's kitchensAnd I say daunting because these new kitchens are something else.

The perils around in the first game were tricky enough, but this time you've got dynamic levels that change what you're doing and making halfway through, and throw perils at you almost non-stop. I've lost count of the times I've fallen down a chasm and when you start adding in the moving platforms and other quirks, it can get wonderfully chaoticThankfully the throw mechanic is here to stay in Overcooked 2, allowing you to lob uncooked ingredients from chef to chef to speed things up and generally try and get recipes made. There's a level of head-scratching involved to begin with though, as you lob ingredients to each other knowing that they'll have to come back a very different way. You're working against the clock, and against the terrain and kitchen layout constantly, and yes, it does occasionally get a little mad.It's well known that a session of Overcooked can be quite stressful, and those that play it either work impeccably well as a little cheffing team, or have major friendship / relationship breakdowns. In fact, I've known couples that physically can't play Overcooked together because of the rows it causes. Thankfully, I don't have those kinds of friends, but it is the type of game that makes you realised you haven't blinked in a really long time.

That's serious concentration folks. Tiny chefsIt doesn't help that the game regularly feels like everything is just a little bit too small for the big screen. It's an absolute delight on the Switch's own screen, but if you want to go big with TV mode or the PS4, Xbox One or PC version, you might find that you're moving your sofa closer to the TV. It's often the case that there's a lot going on on screen in Overcooked 2. You've got plates of food, all your ingredients at various stages of preparation and it can feel a little muddled. On the one hand that's part of Overcooked 2's particular brand of glorious mayhem, but on the other it can be infuriating. One level saw us trying to make pizzas.

In order to prepare them correctly, you have to chop the dough, add chopped cheese and sliced tomatoes and layer all three together before slamming the entire thing in an oven. Lining up a load of mid-prep pizzas on a bench that goes back in towards the rear of the kitchen means lots of tiny little icons overlapping, making it tricky to see what needs cheese STAT.Strangely enough, if you've played the original game you might also notice that the controls feel a lot different this time around.

It suddenly feels like you're piloting chefs like move like tiny drunk hippos - slow, sluggish and very imprecise. It has quite a different feel from the original game, which when you go back to it feels much more responsive and controlled in comparison.

It's not a huge deal, but when every second counts it can be fairly infuriating.Thankfully, when you're in the midst of a level, all of the frustrations melt away, because after all this is really an experience that you aim to have with friends. Online multiplayer has really helped that, and although it works a treat, it has done strange things to the ease of play for couch co-op sessions, which only seemed to work by hosting a local wireless session. Couch co-op in the original game was simple drop in and drop out, but that's not the case with Overcooked 2, unless a gaggle of game journalists are being utterly silly. I particularly love the option to play co-op with two Switch consoles tethered via local wireless, it's the best way to play Overcooked 2, in my opinion.And that's because that's the way the game shines best. When you get to it, none of the annoyances really matter, more like a burnt corner of your toast that can be forgiven because the rest of the buttery bread is delicious.

This is the same jolly madness you fell in love with from the first game, but with more creative levels, better graphics and more adorable little chefs. (But by god I wished I'd pre-ordered to get that unicorn skin.)Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

The original Overcooked! was a surprisingly great co-op cooking game, allowing 2-4 local players to team up and bake lots of dishes in a desperate attempt to save the world. Now Ghost Town Games and Team17 have whipped up Overcooked! 2, which adds both online co-op and competitive play to the recipe. As you might expect, the result is a devastatingly delicious cooking adventure.

Seeing as how the first Overcooked! opened with the amazingly dramatic scene of a gigantic monster on the verge of destroying the world, it would be tough to top that scenario in the sequel. Overcooked! 2 instead begins with the Onion King and his faithful dog Kevin attempting to prepare a recipe from the NecroNomNomicon. Naturally, things go awry, resulting in the creation of an evil army of Unbread zombies. Now our heroic squad of chefs must travel the world to find recipes that will satisfy the Unbread once and for all. It’s a delightfully silly setup for a fun and frantic cooperative adventure.

Overcooked! 2 features a new-and-improved main menu from which players can select their chefs, party up, and choose between three different game modes (Story, Arcade, and Versus). You start with several cutesy chefs in your playable roster, all with identical abilities. More will unlock through campaign progress, with an additional batch that were offered as a preorder bonus now available for purchase as well.

Story is Overcooked! 2’s primary mode, a campaign made up of dozens of levels spread across a huge map. As our heroes complete batches of levels, they’ll have to drive their food truck back to the Onion King’s castle to progress the story and unlock the next batch of levels. Accomplishing secret (usually very easy) conditions on specific levels will unlock extra tough hidden levels as well.

The core gameplay remains mostly the same as in the original. Each level requires two or more chefs to cook food for various customers, not unlike a time management game. If playing solo, you’ll have to switch between two chefs to make everyone’s orders. The game can still be enjoyable that way, but it’s obviously built with cooperation in mind. That co-op focus is better than ever now that both local and online co-op are supported.

Cooking is simple in concept here – you just need to grab the ingredients for the desired recipe, chop or cook them if needed, put it all together, and serve it. The recipes get slightly more complex as the game goes on, but the game rolls them out naturally so as not to overwhelm players. Time is always of the essence, so you’ll want to dash around to speed things up. Players can now toss uncooked ingredients to each other (or just onto floors and tables). This saves a little time, but the levels are built with tossing in mind, so the game hasn’t gotten easier.

In fact, Overcooked! 2 gets more and more hectic as you progress through the campaign. Levels start to include moving obstacles or platforms that limit access to portions of the level. These gimmicks can be amusing, up to a point. But annoyingly, when cutting boards and other tables move in certain levels, you can’t use, place, or pick things up from them until they finish moving. It’s also too easy to fall off edges, causing fallen players to lose time as they wait to respawn.

Playing with other chefs is the best way to experience Overcooked! 2, and you have lots of options for how to do it. Two players can share one controller in hand-cramping fashion, just as in the first game. For people with multiple controllers, both co-op modes and the single versus mode support four- players. And of course, all three modes support online multiplayer as well. Plus, you can mix and match local and online players.

Overcooked! 2’s two less robust modes are Arcade and Versus. These allow players to select from a handful of levels drawn from the campaign and then play cooperatively (Arcade) or competitively (Versus). All players get to vote on the level choice, but only a few levels are offered, which is disappointing. On the plus side, players can use emotes to communicate even if they don’t have a microphone. It’s always nice when developers provide voiceless communication options.

Arcade and Versus support online matchmaking, but Story does not. You’ll have to invite friends to your in-game party to experience online campaign co-op. Thus, players who don’t know other online Overcooked! Happy street game. 2 players won’t be able to enjoy the meat of the game in co-op. But assuming you have someone to party up with, only the host player gets to select modes or choose to retry levels – not a huge deal.

What is a big downer is that inexplicably, only the host player receives Story progress when playing co-op! You can still earn Achievements for playing in a friend’s online campaign, including Achievements for 3-starring sets of levels. But when you start up your own save, none of that progress carries over. Considering how much effort and coordination is required to perfect levels together, it’s frustrating that everyone doesn’t get to retain that progress for themselves.

Despite that big issue (which the developers should really fix in an update), Overcooked! 2 is truly a blast to play with friends. You’ll have to think quickly, divide up tasks, and communicate well in order to complete levels with good ratings. My team sometimes failed a level or earned a low score, forcing us to discuss our weaknesses and come up with new strategies for our next attempt. You won’t find many co- op games that require so much coordination, especially not games with as much humor and mass appeal as Overcooked! 2.

The Co-Optimus Co-Op Review of Overcooked! 2 is based on the Xbox One version of the game.

Verdict

The Co-Op Experience: Team up with three friends locally, online, via wireless LAN, or a mix of the three (i.e., combo co-op). Work together through all of the story maps as you prepare dishes and try to get a high score!

Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.