Restaurant Empire Game Review
Downloadable Strategy Games

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Be a chef, manage restaurants and create recipes in the Restaurant Empire downloadable strategy game. Created by game designer Trevor Chan, this game features more depth and detail than most of the other time management and simulation games out there.

The game starts off with you playing the part of Armand LeBoeuf, a new graduate chef taking over the family restaurant business from an uncle who is about to retire. You are tasked with operating it and turning it into a worldwide culinary empire. Along the way, you get to compete in cooking championships to make a name for yourself as an expert chef.

You get to choose where you want to start your first restaurant: from the flashy Los Angeles, to the romantic Paris through to the hustle and bustle of Rome. With the choice in location also comes more choices in decor, atmosphere and cuisine; giving you lots of replay value as you cater to the appetites of customers from around the world.

The game has two different modes. The primary game involves you following the story of Armand LeBoeuf as he tries to grow the family restaurant business into a global empire. Or you can play in a sandbox mode where you can create your own restaurants and recipes to your heart's desire, very much like the SimCity style games.

In both modes, you get to learn how to manage all aspects of a restaurant business. The storyline mode will slowly ease you into the game, introducing new mechanics and features one at a time as the story progresses. Pretty soon, you'll be able to create and design restaurants, manage the finances, create and test new recipes and market your restaurants to the world!

It's in the many choices in these various tasks that the game shines above other downloadable strategy games. What is your strategy to make your restaurant successful? Are you going to focus entirely on pizzas and pastas and make a name for yourself as an expert Italian chef? Do you want to use the best ingredients and cater to the high-end crowd or try to lower the cost and build a larger restaurant to cater to the growing middle class? Do you want to experiment with your recipes and be known for new exotic flavors? The gameplay options are mind-boggling!

The restaurant business isn't the only thing to this game howerer. You still also have to make a name for yourself as a chef. After all, a chef's star power can bring in a lot of business too, and you certainly don't want to end up being an unknown chef working behind the scenes. This is where the chef competitions come in. Taking a page from the famous Iron Chef TV series, you get to compete against other aspiring chefs in a bid to showcase your genius and skills. This section also adds a nice refreshing amount of action, and a nice break from the management style of the main game.

Restaurant Empire is also technically more impressive than most of its contemporaries. It contains a surprisingly large amount of content, depth and choices. In addition, most of the game is illustrated in beautiful 3D graphics, adding another level of realism and engagement to it.

Restaurant Empire is one of the better downloadable strategy games out there, and one of the few that goes into such detail into the management of restaurants and recipes. If restaurants are your thing, or you want to experience a well-designed and detailed business simulation game, this game is guaranteed to engage you for hours!

Rating: 4.0/5.0  

Watch a demo video of the game!

 Download Restaurant Empire onto your computer

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