Remember that episode of Kitchen Nightmares where Gordon Ramsay started to dig through the storage fridges and freezers of the restaurant he was visiting, only to find several dismembered limbs and body parts of the customers who ate there? No? Me neither, but imagine that for a second and you’re not far off with Godlike Burger.
You get to don the chef’s apron which belongs to (allegedly) the chap who makes the best burgers in the universe. His secret? You guessed it, alien flesh. Not only will you need to serve the tastiest patties to keep your customers happy and the restaurant ticking over, but at the same time bump enough of them off to keep your meat supply plentiful. Oh, and make sure you’re discreet otherwise your gaff will be crawling with the rozzers in no time.
It’s a good job, then, that your cosmic burger joint can be piloted from planet to planet to avoid the authorities, as well as enticing in a variety of different races who provide their custom and by extension, essential ingredients.
But of course, it’s not that simple. Because there aren’t enough of them around at the minute (and I should know), Godlike Burger has carry over progression elements combined with a run system. I’m not even going to say the word. Each playthrough will challenge you to unlock access to a series of different planets, where keeping your joint running will become increasingly more challenging.
This also means you will retain abilities and upgrades you unlock, but getting killed will still have you starting right back at the beginning. It’s worryingly easy to meet your maker too. The slightest error will attract attention from diners who will immediately move to put you down.
At first (as is common with these kind of games) Godlike Burger screams Overcooked!. It won’t last long though, as you quickly realise the cooking is much more straightforward here. Frying up your slain alien customers and adding a few ingredients to build the perfect burger to order is as complicated as it gets. This is because aside from the patties, all of your other items come pre-prepared. Handy.
At the same time, you’ll need to get your hands on more burger meat by either swinging your meat cleaver when no one is looking, or activating one of many traps in your restaurant. This is most likely where you’ll have the most fun with Godlike Burger, as you carefully consider the best way to stage an unfortunate “accident”. Drop a fan on a customer’s head as they are tucking into their burger? Or open up the front of the ordering machine to fire off several high velocity rounds into your guest at point blank range? Having worked in retail for the entirety of my career, I had best stop musing there.
The traps are spread all over the restaurant and there are many to unlock and upgrade, with them having the potential to alert the customers to what you are up to. Using the more lethal traps is certainly a risk, and it’s very easy to become overwhelmed and swiftly beaten to death by “have a go” heroes. Or if your guests get too suspicious, they may choose to phone the police which can lead to a raid on your premises. You’ll attract a rating in a similar fashion to Grand Theft Auto, and if they find you it’s pretty much all over as again, you’ll be given a good pasting. Space is a rough neighbourhood.
You play quite literally day to day, dealing with waves of customers all with a raging appetite. As you may very well expect, things get more challenging as the days go by, with random conditions chucked at you such as critics to impress or protesters to boot out of your establishment. After a busy service, you’ll retreat to the basement to spend your hard earned cash on ingredients, upgrades and other (less exciting) things such as bills and bribes to keep the heat off.
In order to unlock access to different planets and a more diverse crowd of diners to carve up, you’ll need to earn enough cash, satisfy your customers and complete a number of objectives to proceed. Progressing in Godlike Burger isn’t easy, and totally dependent on what random challenges you draw. Some can take a long time to achieve whereas others are straight forward, and it doesn’t always feel worth the effort. Randomised elements often work, but in the absence of some sort of structure this game lacks any sense of direction at times.
I’m also sad to say that the experience ends up being very repetitive. You’ll be grinding to move forwards, whether that’s trying to get enough money together, earn a good reputation or generate enough meat whilst keeping your fridge stocked up and ensuring the bills are paid. New planets slightly expand on the gameplay, as different species have their own food preferences, as well as strengths and weaknesses which can be viewed in your logbook. However, once set up, the core gameplay remains largely unchanged for the duration. I’m struggling to think of a game where I have quite so accurately played out the definition of groundhog day.
A real positive, and often a pitfall for games like Godlike Burger, are the controls. I found that even when things got frantic, they hold up well. You can use the D-Pad to slow down and speed up events in what is a pretty standard feature for this genre, but rather oddly it can’t be used to navigate the menus. It would have been nice to have the more precise option over the thumbstick when trying to get things done at pace, because the odd mistake can happen. And it can be costly.
The other reason Godlike Burger conjures memories of Overcooked!, is because it looks pretty darn similar to it too. It’s a style which works, but here there is much less variety to the environments. This is because despite visiting different planets, you’ll play in exactly the same restaurant which not only adds to the repetitive feel, but also becomes pretty boring to look at after a while. However, there is a wonderful little jukebox in your kitchen rammed full of funky tunes which you can change at any time, and is very reminiscent of Theme Hospital.
Godlike Burger feels like a half-baked idea, and you aren’t given nearly enough reasons to want to see all it has to offer. But at the same time, you kind of have seen everything after a few short hours of playtime. It’s something of a conundrum.
There are a fair few planets to visit, but getting to them can be so difficult. When you do, apart from meeting a few different customers there’s not much else. Add the fact that the blasted run system means you’ll be starting from scratch a lot, and your upgrades don’t materially improve your chances of progression, and it means the elements don’t quite gel together as they could.
With little to show for your efforts, Godlike Burger misses the chance to delight the palate. It’s unlikely you’ll want to go back for seconds.
Godlike Burger is on the Xbox Store
