Brute's 2012 In-Review: Super Penguin Chef

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MrBrutehater
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Brute's 2012 In-Review: Super Penguin Chef

Post by MrBrutehater »

So...I guess a quick introduction to who I am is in order seeing as this is the first thing I've posted. I'm Brute, I have actually been registered for awhile and just haven't gotten around to posting much. I wont go on too much about me now, seeing as it's not about that. I was just linked to this 2012 In-review thing from a good friend of mine and decided to participate. ^^

On to the actual reason im here for this, using the marvelous random game selector, the first game that was picked for me was Super Penguin Chef!
Image

Which, by the way, I love the title screen for:

Image

Disclaimer: I have only played an hour and a half of this game, as I will with every game I review so keep that in mind! I streamed the hour and a half of the game like I will in every game. You can catch the stream on my twitch.tv page which i will link down at the bottom of this, and I will upload it to youtube later on my Let's Play channel for any of those who wish not to watch it on twitch!

Anyways, on to the first topic of discussion:

-----------------------------GAME PLAY---------------------------------
I don't think it's too hard to guess the basics of the game play. Turned based RPG standard fair, it plays pretty well and is a fun time. Action button attacks, you can use magic, you level up to increase health or magic points, and can get any number of new powers/upgrades for those powers. The items do have some pretty fun names from what I usually see, like smoothie (which revives a dead party member) and so on. You get the standard buying armor/weapons/other accessories game play here, from what I've experienced so far the weapons are all just named after cooking utensils...your forks, knives, and spoons. Knives are a purely physical oriented weapon, spoons are a purely magical oriented weapon, and forks are a nice combo of both. The one problem I have against this portion of game play is it is lacking a flee-from-battle option. I mean, given the fact you don't game-over when you die, it's not bad in that respect, but sometimes I just waned to skip a battle and run away but I just couldn't and it got on my nerves sometimes, though honestly it's a minor complaint and not a game-ruining experience at all. The other part of game play is the is the cooking! You have to go through all these fights to help you get ingredients to use to keep your restaurant going, and help you win the contests. The cooking is also solid and makes for a fun time at the end of a nice time fighting enemies and all that. The only thing that bugs me with this is I feel some recipes that would be considered relatively logical just aren't there. The big one i discovered is that a recipe for basic lasagna wasn't there (Cheese+Pasta+Tomato=A Very basic lasagna, maybe some beef too) but that too is just a small complaint, and seeing as I was told the game isn't complete yet, I'm not gonna complain about it too much, sense it really isn't a big deal. Excluding two very minor complaints, it all works really well and it was very fun in pretty much every way it wanted/needed to be. ^^

---------------------------------STORY----------------------------------
So...I'm gonna talk about story so...spoiler warning...I guess. Just...know that now.

Story is pretty simple, nothing too amazingly new or anything, but it defiantly does what it needs to do and does it very well! Short story not any shorter, Pengler (A Penguin, as the name of the game may suggest), Hogg Wilde (A Pig, who has some killer sunglasses), Mr.slitherbottom (A Snake...not a snack, there's a difference!) and last but certainly not least Altagator (An Alligator, no joke here, just death-roll along!) find out from their father who is on his death bed, Walrus they are adopted! *Shock Gasp!* I mean, who would of thought that they are adopted, right? Anyways, Walrus gives his kids a big bunch of dough (bread dough, not cash), a restaurant with the ingenious name Walrus, and a debt fifty thousand deep! You spend the game getting ingredients to keep the restaurant alive to get money to help pay of your newly acquired debt by learning new recipes that people would want to eat at the restaurant, and serving randomly picked judges at the previously mentioned Liquid Metal Chef competitions! The judges are unique and you have to make food based around what they would want (I believe my good friend meowskivitch has a cameo in the game as one of the judges, unless I'm mistaken?) and if you win you get money to help pay the debt, and advancement to the next competition, if you loose you walk away with nothing but a bad feeling and a few less ingredients than you had a few minutes prior. You also need to find some sort of legendary ingredients of some sort but I didn't really get to those much so...You can experience those all on your own! I don't really have any complaints, though the story isn't something you would write home about, it just does its job and does it well enough to fit the game! ^^

--------------------------MUSIC AND GRAPHICS---------------------------
Yeah, I know I'm putting two kinda unrelated pieces of a game together but well, they both wouldn't take too long for me to speak of so I figured throwing them in one portion would be perfect, yeah?

Graphics are nice, i had trouble figuring out that the Walrus was A Walrus with a beard but after awhile I did figure it out so I can tell everything is what it should be even if i takes me a minute or two! The enemies all looked like something fitting for this, though some were a little odd. The weirdest one I saw in my hour and a half of playing was the enemy called "Carrot Top" which looks really weird and creepy until you see it's name. I think you should experience that one all on your own though! The environments all looks pretty nice, though the grass and trees of the first dungeon got a little tiring after some time, it was nothing that made me want to curl up and stop playing or something.

The music was all really good actually! Two of the themes were things I could recognize relatively well. The theme for the one liquid metal competition I played sounded like a Pokemon theme, and the Walrus restaurant theme was recognizable, though I don't know what exactly it was. The theme for the first dungeon place was really good though, I liked it a lot. Over-all good graphics and music! ^^

-------------------------------In Conclusion--------------------------------
It was really good! I had a-lot of fun in the hour and a half that I played with this game, and It's defiantly one I will be going back to as soon as I have the time! The only gripes I really have with it are minor ones, and they don't get in the way of my overall enjoyment! If I was on a rating scale I'd probably give it something like: A- because it was over-all great, but had a few small things that did get on my just enough to keep it from being an A or an A+. If you'd rather a number scale, I'd say an 8.5/10, because of the slightly bland first dungeon, one game play issue that bugged me a tad, and some things I feel are missing that could be there logically. I could also give it a HONK out of HONK because HONK!

--------------------------------Warnings!------------------------------------
Also one thing to be aware of, whenever you go to pay off the debt, I was told by a friend there with me to go to the restaurant for the day first, to avoid a glitch that can royally screw you over!


Oh and, Here is the link to the stream for those of you who wish to watch me:

Youtube Video Of The Livestream:

Thanks for reading, I hope it wasn't too long! ^^
Last edited by MrBrutehater on Sun Sep 15, 2013 11:41 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Mogri
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Post by Mogri »

I watched through the stream. Good stuff, but you should watch where you put your mouse -- it showed up on the stream more often than not.

Not that there's a wrong way to play the game, but I couldn't help but shudder when you spent your early level-up bonuses on HP and MP. Those bonuses scale with level and are intended as last pick bonuses after you've exhausted all of the juicy abilities. My personal picks for the first few levels include Lick for Pengler, Hug for Hogg, and Venom or Drain for Slitherbottom. All of the abilities are useful in some way. No one likes Roar but me, it seems.

I'd also recommend against the mage build for Altagator. Everyone uses magic for special abilities, but Altagator benefits more from attack, especially with the abilities you have on him.

Tangentially related: several people have asked about a "run away" option. If you want a cheap way to get out of battles, level up Piggy. I might also add a consumable item that lets you flee, but I'm not planning to enable "hold ESC to run."

Anyway, thanks for the review! I appreciate the feedback.
Last edited by Mogri on Sat Sep 14, 2013 7:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Meowskivich
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Post by Meowskivich »

Building up magic would make Roar more effective, would it not?
And I like roar as pretty much the lone skill of Altagator until I can get his MP high enough to use Crush, since, for battles too tough, it'll help delay the inevitable. Or provide the defense for a bit more exp getting before having to go back to town.
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Mogri
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Post by Mogri »

Meowskivich wrote:Building up magic would make Roar more effective, would it not?
Yes, but Roar doesn't stack and he didn't use it anyway.
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MrBrutehater
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Post by MrBrutehater »

Thanks for watching the stream, sir! Sorry about the mouse, I'll make sure to not do that for the next game!

I'll try to not get as many HP and MP bonuses now that I know better!

As for the mage build for Altagator, I kinda figured he wasn't meant to be a mage after a little while, so at that point it come to me as a personal challenge to make him the mage, for better or for worse! If/when I ever play the game again, I'll make sure to not give him the mage build though!

It's up to you in the end if you want to put flee-ing options in the game, It was really a pretty minor thing in the game - especially because you don't get a game over for failing battles. I will keep the Piggy method in mind if I'm ever in a hurry though!

Oh...and...I dont think I mentioned it in the review but you should totally finish this game!

Edit: Oh and uh...Using moves that lower enemies stats has never been something I do very often - it never occurs to me how helpful it can actually be. I may have to change that at some point.
Last edited by MrBrutehater on Sat Sep 14, 2013 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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