Turbo Pizza

I admit it. I have a weakness for good pizza. I can easily pass on the golden arches and red and white bucket meals, but not when it comes to the delicious flat pie. I was afraid this game would make me crave pizza all the time. Thankfully, the pizza in this game looks simple and cartoonish — not enough to make a pizza freak’s mouth water.

Rebecca and Robert start their pizza shop in an abandoned castle. While it’s an odd location for selling pizza instead of medieval times-style food, the castle scenery creates an interesting and different experience. Rebecca does all the hustling and order fulfillment while Robert bakes the pies.

The first time I played Turbo Pizza, my arm and shoulder hurt and I had to quit. The game turns turbo very early. Since I play the games on my laptop (to avoid temptation of playing them on my desktop while I am working), I was using the laptop’s built in touchpad. After that first experience, I plugged in the portable wireless mouse and the experience improved.

But the game still went super turbo after climbing a few levels. The best way to play this game is a little at a time or else you might run into mouse hand cramps. I enjoy the variety of menu items that includes soda, desserts, popcorn, ice cream and coffee. As you make a profit, you can upgrade all items and machines so they’re faster or better quality. Upgrades also include décor and training so Rebecca and Robert become more efficient at their jobs. This helps them prepare for expanding to a second store at another unique location they discover while on vacation — no spoilers here!

After completing a set number of levels, a bonus mini-game comes up where players must make pizza that looks exactly like the ones on the screen. That’s not all — players grab ingredients from a conveyor belt – think Lucy Ricardo at the chocolate factory. Just like for Lucy, it didn’t take long for the conveyor belt to trip me up.

The game almost literally goes from 0 to 60 mph in a short time rather than steadily increasing in difficulty. Surprisingly, the game only comes in one mode, but I’m not a fan of endless mode because it’s tedious. You can select the level to start the game, but I wouldn’t go above level one with the game reaching crazy fast speeds early. When I finally get my second location, it didn’t take long before I had to repeatedly play a level that I can’t beat.

The one hour free trial should be enough to figure out if it’s too much or not. While Turbo Pizza doesn’t stray much from the Diner Dash-style games, it has great graphics and a nice variety in customers, upgrades and products to keep things popping.

System Requirements: Windows

• Windows XP/Vista
• 800MHz or faster processor
• 256MB RAM
• 175MB hard drive space
• 32MB RAM or better graphics card
• DirectX 8.0

[tags]pc games,meryl k. evans[/tags]