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From the developers at “Playfirst”, the master-minds who gave us a little game you may or may not have heard of called “Diner Dash”, we now get “to have and to hold” a new game called “Wedding Dash”!
And when I first heard the news I was “happier than a June bride in a featherbed!” as the old Southern saying goes.
Our good buddy Flo is still on the go with her restaurants, now it's time for her one of her close personal friends to get their moment to shine!
For all you “Diner Dash” fans out there don’t worry, the developers and Flo are still in a “very loving and committed” relationship thank-you-very-much, in fact Flo even makes a couple of cameos in the story and gameplay!
"Expanding on the plate-spinning world of Diner Dash has been in our sights for some time," said Kenny Dinkin, vice president and creative director, at PlayFirst. "We are excited to deliver what fans have been asking for: new twists on gameplay, more characters, and more Flo. Now they get to experience all the humor and chaos of weddings with our latest character, Quinn." -Playfirst
Instead of our pony-tailed pal Flo seating hungry patrons, taking orders, bussing tables, we're introduced to Quinn, Flo's friend and roommate. Quinn was a bridesmaid who reluctantly took on the role of a wedding planner as a favor to a desperate bride in need.
Soon she realizes she’s pretty good at the job and decides to make a career out of it. Can you help Quinn, make wedding bells ring!
You don’t actually play as Quinn though; instead you play a nameless, female server doing all the action. All the grunt work falls on the poor server which you guessed it would be you. You'll be clicking around in a frenzy as she brings new armfuls of food and drops off the gifts. (Fortunately, the dirty dishes magically disappear). Quinn merely stands off to the side merely watching and is only used occasionally for small tasks. But more on that later.
You start out each level with a kind of minigame for extra points, it involves you helping the happy couples select all the fine details the go into making a wedding just perfect - from tasty cakes to gorgeous flower arrangements. For example you will read a short blurb about what the happy couple likes and dislikes and then it will ask you to choose the correct item from 3 choices for up to 300 bonus points.
This includes info. about the kinds of food they like (they may love seafood, so you'd simply pick lobster over the Beef Wellington for the main course), or where they'd like to go on a honeymoon (she loves Europe, so you'd naturally select Italy over Hawaii as a destination), as well as the kind of wedding cake they'd like, etc (It’s amazing just how so many small details go into making the perfect wedding, isn’t it?)
Of course good multitasking skills as well as chaining actions together are the key factors in this type of RTS game. This means your server should be carrying two appetizers instead of one, bringing two gifts to the bride and groom, so on and so forth.
Once the lovebirds have tied the knot, look out for obstacles preventing this from being the perfect wedding (and what fun would that be, right?!), such as tipsy guests, unsteady falling cakes, consoling over-emotional guests like Aunt Ethel who can't stop bawling, and cat-fighting bridesmaids. Occasionally, you'll have to click on Quinn to fix these little things, but really her role only serves as a distraction to the main game.
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Interestingly enough in some ways the bride and groom are the least of your worries at this wedding -it’s really all about keeping your guests happy that is the most challenging!
So as well as helping couples pick all of the small wedding details, you must seat guests at the proper tables but, which may sound easy enough but it is involves seating certain popular guests with the right people and away from the wrong people almost/kinda/sorta like the color matching you had to do in DD. For example, keep Uncle Tom far away from Uncle Tim they can’t stand one another, in fact they’ve had an ongoing family feud for well over 15 years now!
Given the limited seating choices it is sometimes hard to correctly put everyone in their desired spot, and from experience, failing to place even one guest perfectly usually ended up in a loss for that level, and having to start over.
Quinn’s server picks up the gifts and takes them to the bride and groom, feeds three dishes (appetizer, entrée, and dessert) to every guest and occasionally takes special orders such as a request for a glass of wine or passing on a special song request to the DJ.
To screw with the puzzle solving here even more, some guests will eat slower than others so it’s a real juggling act to keep everything under control.
Once a guest has eaten their food, they'll go to the dance floor and cut a rug, opening up spots for you to put the rest of the guests.
As in restaurants, different types of people will arrive, all with their own eclectic personalities and quirks such as easygoing ones, social butterflies who work the room and impatient eaters. All I can say is Quinn better keep things under control and make sure everyone happy or else! An unhappy wedding party is an unhappy bride and an unhappy bride is …well you get the point right? Bridezilla material!
Bonus points are awarded which can be spent on things similar to restaurant upgrades: such as comfier chairs, a longer table to hold more food, a fancier wedding cake, making your chef cook faster and/or making a tastier meal (the chicken was a wee bit on the rubbery side, Chef Pierre) or giving your server and/or Quinn the ability to move faster.
I did have one little nitpick (well no relationship is perfect you know!), and it’s that clicks don’t always “take.” Click on two dishes and after walking over to the table to serve them; you’ll realize your character only has one dish in her hand. That wastes precious time which could mean the difference between making and not making the next level.
Do well and you'll and get hired to take care of more weddings including one in a ballroom, on a cruise ship, in a castle and on a tropical island.
When the going gets tough, there's extra help from everyone's favorite server, Flo!
Excuse me a minute won’t you, “Hey Flo, how've you been girl? It’s great to see you again; you are a sight for sore eyes! Um let me just wrap this review up over here so we can catch up on old times, okay?
Alrighty then I’m back, so in conclusion “Wedding Dash” is a fast-paced challenge to pull off a flawless event, but for the determined Quinn, it's all in a day's work!
The game was a little too short for my tastes and it ends a tad too abruptly...maybe to leave way for “Wedding Dash 2” (practically guaranteed- trust me!) who knows. Unlike when DD ended, the end of WD was a little bit of a let down, and I was expecting to see if a hidden level pop up.
Maybe “Wedding Dash 2” will have better upgrades and more challenges.
“Wedding Dash” is everything you'd expect from a PlayFirst micromanagement sim, DD and WD are fairly identical and it may feel like deja vu to Diner Dash addicts, so for those of you looking for an all new experience you may be disappointed.
But I raise my glass and offer a toast to “Wedding Dash”, wishing it much happiness and gaming bliss. I have a feeling the honeymoons just getting started between Playfirst and Quinn.
Now if you will excuse me I really must dash and catch up with Flo and besides the brides just about to throw the bouquet, wish me luck!!
Tips & Tricks
-In the beginning of each level you should read the invitations very carefully. Pay close attention to the preferences of the bride and groom. If you make the right choices you can earn anywhere from 100-300 points before you even start the game! Be careful though in some cases there is more than one right answer. Helpful Hint: I found in most cases it had more to do with the food choices than the choices of honeymoon spots.
-Choose your seating arrangements carefully. Guests have a preference as to who they like to be seated next to so it's really important to seat guests correctly. Also seating guests in the right order boosts your score and is a major way to earn a lot of bonus points.
-You don't have to seat all the guests the moment they arrive. It's actually better to wait for a few of them to show up before you start seating them. This will help you to make sure you make the best seating choices.
-Learn certain characteristics of some of the guests. For example, Chloe is very popular and a lot of people want to be seated next to her, and Uncle Ernie and Betty should always be seated at the end of the table, since not too many people like to sit next to them (I hear Uncle Ernie can be touchy-feely and Betty talks with her mouth full). Chuck is very impatient and eats really quickly so he'll be finished eating before anybody else.
-In later levels at times guests will suddenly change their minds and will ask to be seated next to somebody different after they've already been seated! You won’t not lose points if you don't re-seat them but you will not earn any either. It can be done, just try it, think of it as a challenge. And if you're able to do it you will get an extra 100 points!
-At the beginning of each level be sure to read what Quinn is asking for. These are clues that will help you in the particular level. For example, if Quinn mentions the fact that a lot of people want to sit next to a guest named Chloe in that level, then make sure that Chloe is always in a middle seat so that other guests will always be able to sit next to her. Whenever you can, make sure that you place the fastest eaters next to her so that they can leave quickly and make room for others.
-Do as many combos as possible to earn chain bonus points. Seat all the customers at the same time, and deliver all the presents to the bride and groom at the same time, etc.
-The good thing is the food is always served in the same order: appetizers followed by the entree and topped off with desserts. So try to get all the appetizers out of the way at the same time. Since you know what's coming next you should be able to predict what the guests are going to request, so grab the next food order in advance.
-If you pick up an item by mistake that nobody wants you have 2 choices as what to do with it. You can simply throw it out but it will cost you 50 points, or you can hold on to it until somebody requests that particular item. Sure it will tie up one of your servers hands and slow you down a bit but there are only so many food choices within the game that chances are good that someone will request it very quickly.
-Serving drinks, giving music requests to the DJ, and throwing confetti can all earn you an extra 200 points so try to fit these things in at all possible.
Get Wedding Dash Here
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Posted by oxyjen on Sep 7, 2007
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