Cooking Gala takes the management genre of gaming and coats it with a delicious vanilla frosting that I couldn't help but sink my teeth into. Okay, so I'm a bit hungry, but with its multitude of tasty snacks across different regions of the world waiting to be made and served, can you blame me?
The concept is easy to grasp. Cook the food the customer wants and serve it before they get pissed off. If you've worked in the service industry, as I have, it's a very familiar concept.
Cooking Gala raised the difficulty by introducing an upgrade mechanic, so I could more efficiently serve customers. For example, in Italy, I wanted to make more pizzas, so you can bet I bought a second oven and cupcakes to bribe impatient customers to stay a bit longer while I whipped them up something tasty. It was just enough to add that extra incentive to keep playing.
Another nice tidbit is that Cooking Gala has cut scenes! I was genuinely shocked when I opened the game and found a narrative and some impressive visuals associated with the game.
Cooking Gala is easy to grasp, fun to play, and has a variety of ways to maximize your efficiency while serving customers and making dough. And I mean that literally. For those looking for a fun management game, sample the goods yourself, and see if you don't go back for a second bite.