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Poor Flo, her restaurant went boom!
Yep, the plot of "Diner Dash 5" kooky as it may sound is that Flo's diner was leveled by a particularly brutal breakfast rush one morning.
Apparently America doesn't just run on Dunkin!
"Diner Dash 5: Boom" begins with our hero Flo completing a sign for a fat-free breakfast at her restaurant. In the middle of the night, her arch-nemesis Mr. Big sabotages her and erases the word "fat" from her sign, making people think she is offering a free breakfast! By morning, there is a huge crowd waiting outside Flo's restaurant for their breakfast. And in true cartoon style, the whole place goes boom from the sheer number of people!
But a nice contractor named Hal, who's addicted to Flo's hash browns offers to help her rebuild it.
Kooky right? Well since it is Diner Dash, I had to try it.
I mean this is Diner Dash! "Diner Dash 5: Boom" as a matter of fact! There's no way they could screw it up! Could they?
(And yes,I know the subtitle of the game was a poor choice of words. Me and my friend have taken turns making fun of it.)
"When Diner Dash exploded on the scene five years ago, it was an instant blockbuster, breaking new ground in casual games and defining the time-management genre," said Kenny Shea Dinkin, PlayFirst's Chief Creative Officer. "With this fifth sequel we wanted to make sure we were keeping the series just as fresh with new ideas and innovative game play and not relying on the same old stuff: so we blew up the diner! Players of Diner Dash 5: BOOM! will need to seat, serve and save the day through 50 levels".
Each new Diner Dash must bring unique new things.
Look, I feel Kenny's pain I can only imagine how hard to must be to come up with a new Diner Dash premise again and again especially since there are such high expectations by us Dash players.
As Flo, as always, your job is to make sure hungry customers get fed and get out swiftly.
Customers must be seated, orders must be taken, food must be served, checks handed out and dishes must be cleaned off of the table so the process can begin anew.
Players will be dealing with multiple customers, so handling multiple tasks is important. Players will also be fighting against the patience of customers as well as the time clock. Customers who have been treated well tip well. There is a monetary score that must be reached within each level in order to progress to the next level. Same ol', same 'ol right? At this point, these Diner Dash reviews practically write themselves!
O.K. to be fair, there are some new elements to DD5-for example at the menu screen, players have the option to link to their Facebook account to the game, which will post your awards and medals on your Facebook wall as your progress throughout the game. In other words, bragging rights.
It's an odd little feature that apparently some games are including nowadays in an attempt to add a bit more connection between players in a game.
But hey, if this isn't your thing the Facebook connection is optional.
I have a Facebook account, but didn't use it for the game. I thought it was useless and annoying.
Oh, another annoying element to this Facebook thing is a popup to gift some shoes (to speed up Flo) to a friend via Facebook- if you use Facebook then great- but why after all the work you put in to earn them can't you get to use the shoes?
For years, most of Flo's customers have come to see her in her splendid diner, but in DD5, Flo is forced to take her business to the streets (oh get your minds out of the gutter) of the city while her diner gets fixed up. As you progress through the levels you will be prompted to make choices about how Flo's new diner will look.
They've added a new form of customer types called "townies". Townies are townspeople that show up in the area from time to time to incomplete groups waiting to be seated. The idea is to choose the same color townie that will help a group to take full advantage of color bonuses at the tables. They appear quite magically off to the right hand side of the screen and when you see them all you'll have to do is click on them, drag them to any empty space in the line and voila the strange "townie" is now a friend for life.
There are also new customer types that interact with people around them, such as the attorneys who argue and take longer to finish if you seat them next to other attorneys.
There are also clowns that hypnotize other diners around them and making them eat slower (though I personally think the clowns should be able to throw pies at the other diners and start a food fight!)
You will even have to manage diners who are seated on a balcony or fire escape. So how do you serve meals to the grannies seated on a fire escape? With a trampoline of course!
There's now a salad bar that customers can get up from their table and get on their own for their healthy lunch. Even though Flo doesn't have to take their order and deliver the food, you will still be required take make sure it is full and fresh at all times.There are also new weather conditions that add a fair bit of realism to the game. When it starts to rain, you have to scramble to set up umbrellas over all the tables. And when it gets windy, be prepared to hold down the tablecloths to prevent them from being blown away!
Overall, the game looks just a bit drab. The colors aren't very bright and the restaurants don't look all that inviting or appetizing actually. True, it gets better when you upgrade it, but even then it just isn't very interesting to look at. Ironically although it is all set outdoors the levels feel smooshed up and cramped. The new restaurants seem smaller than before and causes a claustrophobic feeling within the levels.
I have to admit I was a bit skeptical when I went to check out the game .
As everyone knows I've loved the series, I was worried I would simply find the same ol' Diner Dash. And sadly it is the same ol' Diner Dash we've all played before except now the scenery changes more often. It's a simple rehash to milk a great series and it just didn't feel as fresh as it used to. In fact,I'm afraid it might be a day or two past it's expiration date.
That is, until they make "Diner Dash 6: A Dash to Mars" (just kidding).
Get Diner Dash 5: Boom Here |
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Posted by oxyjen on Mar 3, 2010
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