Food fight is one of the more colourful games released in recent times and for a number of people will border on garish. Whether this game appeals to you will probably depend strongly on whether the art work works for you or puts you off.

Gameplay

Throughout the game you play one of a number of chefs, each of which are attempting to serve up the best dish. To do this you will marshal a force of foodstuffs over three battle grounds: breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

At the start of each day there will be two cards indicating which battlegrounds are available for that day and what their values are. This may be different battlefields or two cards of the same. You will elect which field you’re going for and then compete with the other chefs for victory.

Before going to war you will have a drafting mechanism to put together a plate of soliders and a number of instant effects. Of this draft, you will select five to be plated, which means creating a line up of soliders that will be randomly drawn to war against each other. The troop with the highest yumminess (read: points value) will win the chef an after-dinner mint, which means they won the trick.

There are a number of variables that can come into play: soliders are aligned with one of the three meals and will break ties if they are properly aligned, certain troops that have conditional effects that change the yumminess depending on what has already been played and the like. Instants, of course, can do boosts and other tricks to win the trick.

While I could go into more detail about the particular rules and conditionals, that would require a lot more space. So the above should suffice to give you an idea of how the game comes together.

Implementation

Being somewhat health conscious of what I eat I found myself feeling a bit nauseous at the game, but I expect that’s just me. I had a psychosomatic response from my stomach at the imaginary prospect of eating all this greasy food. On top of that, the artwork is deliberately gross and repugnant. Of course, this is a very subjective thing and I expect I’m in the minority when it comes to this. If the artwork doesn’t bother you (or even appeals) then you’ll probably find this game a bit of a riot.

Stylistic choice aside, I have to commend the game for going to the nth degree in providing artwork. There is really good graphic design everywhere, from the opening menu, to the navigation pages, and the campaign map. There is just simply a lot to look at and it will take a bit of an adjustment to absorb all the information and detail.

The user interface is quite intuitive and very accessible. I found that I never really lacked for hints and explanations as to how things piece together. Additionally, there is a proper tutorial to ground you in the game.  It doesn’t explain everything but it’s enough to ensure you’re not lost.

Verdict

7/10: Personally, not likely to play this game much but I can definitely see it will have appeal to a broader audience.