Game Time! Penguin Diner: The Original

Penguin Diner: The Original

Last Updated: 2015

Company: BigWig

# of Levels: 36

Price I Paid: Free

Time Spent Playing: 2 hours and 2 minutes

Story Line: Penny got lost an had to take a waitress job to earn enough money to get back home. 

Review:
+ I like the fact that after the customer has given Penny the food order, she doesn't have to bring it back to the chef. He must somehow work telepathically and automatically know the order (which I appreciate because it saves me time). I also like that when Penny takes the money and clear the dishes, the dishes just disappear instead of having to bring them to the sink or a bucket (like every other Diner game). I sure wish the dishes at my house would learn how to disappear like that.

- One of the biggest things that pissed me off about this game was the ads. I understand games need ads to make money but this was overboard. If you take a look at picture 2 you can see that ads are constantly streaming across the top of the game screen. The P of the "pause" button is even covered by the ads. To make matters worse after EVERY level, you have to watch a 30 second video ad about another game. Picture 4 shows one of the games that was being promoted. "Choose your own hair and makeup" Ah yeah, no thanks. There is a way to get rid of the ads but you have to PAY ($2.29 to be exact). Now call me old fashioned but I have no problem shelling out a buck or two to play a game (or get additional levels) but I have a MASSIVE problem in shelling out money for the FREE GAME to NOT include ads. What a money grab.

- This (diner style) time management game has been done to death. This game was way to easy. At the beginning of each level it gives you a target amount of money that you need to get to pass the level. I either doubled or tripled that target amount through every single level.

- The controls weren't always as sharp as they should have been. When Penny goes to pick up the cooked items to bring them to the table, I have a hard time clicking on anything that's shorter (like plates of food) but I have no problem clicking on the taller ones (like the drink or milkshake glasses). I sometimes find myself having to tap on the shorter food six or seven times before it realizes what I'm trying to do.

- There isn't enough upgrade items (see picture 3). Because I was over doubling my money per level, I was able to buy all 9 upgrades by level 7 and that was it. Even when I moved on to Diner 2 and Diner 3, there were no additional upgrades left to buy.

- There are three different diners in this game that Penny needs to waitress at, but they all look the same. 

Overall (Would I recommend it?): 
Although it has some time saving features like not having to bring the chef the table orders and not having to bring the dirty dishes somewhere, it lacks any originality at all. This "diner style" game has been done to death and this game brings nothing new to the table to enhance or drastically change my game play. The fact that the game has ads was annoying but the fact that they wanted you to pay money ($2.29) to remove the ads was even more annoying. The game was extremely easy and I was able to double the target score in every single level, meaning that I upgraded all of the equipment by level 7 which left me with nothing else to buy for the whole game. The controls weren't as on target as they could have been and although there are three different diners for Penny to waitress at, they all look the same. I do love penguins but this game just fails in comparison to the hundreds out that are better.

B-

Game Play Tips:
- To avoid seeing the ads during your game play and after each level, turn on the "airplane mode" on your phone so the game can't play the ads while you play. A problem solved is $2.29 saved!
- When you are picking up the ordered food from the counter (especially with the shorter plates) try clicking at the top part of the dish or even slightly above the dish. For some reason the control reads better when you tap above instead of directly on the item.

**Check back every Tuesday for another game review and feel free to tweet me @popculturedlife with any Time Management games (that I can get from the iTunes App Store) that you would like to see in a future review!