A common misconception is that gamers fall into 2 categories: Casual Gamers and Hardcore Gamers. The truth is that many Hardcore Gamers play casual games as well. I mean, sometimes you just want mindless fun or less complicated mechanics.

Sushi Time! from Baltoro Games is a casual, time management game where you prepare sushi at a sushi bar. There is no story and not a lot of customization, but the simple controls make it fun nonetheless.

You start off with 2 ingredients, 2 types of tea, and 1 recipe. Customers enter and place an order that you must fill before they get impatient and leave. Filling the orders earns you money, both the price of the order and a tip (if any). The faster you fill their order, the bigger the tip they leave you. The longer you take to fill their order, the more annoyed they will become. If they get too annoyed they will either not tip you or leave and you lose the sale. The object is to complete the level by earning enough money to get at least 1 out of a possible 3 stars.

As you complete levels you unlock new ingredients, recipes, and kitchen upgrades. There are a total of 18 ingredients, 56 recipes, and 6 items that can be upgraded. While there aren’t many kitchen upgrades, they do help you fill orders faster and make your customers more patient. This, in turn, earns you more money for upgrades.

Customers come in and line up in front of 6 scrolling (left to right) boats. Their order is in a thought bubble above their heads. To fill their sushi orders you make each roll individually by clicking the ingredients and putting them on the mat, then click the mat to roll the sushi. The rolled sushi then appears in a boat and rides across until reaching someone who ordered it. If you choose the wrong ingredient or roll sushi that doesn’t have a recipe, the failure goes into a boat and rides to the end where you are then charged money for it.

Sushi Time! does have several issues. The first issue is that some of the ingredients, in sushi form, look too similar to other ingredients. For example, the cucumber and the avocado are the exact same color and shape, with an extremely close design. This makes it very difficult to tell if the customer wants a cucumber/fish roll or an avocado/fish roll. Since there are only 6 boats, making the wrong sushi which will then take up space, and can make finishing difficult.

The second issue is that unlike similar games, there’s no way to throw out an ingredient. So if you put fish on the mat, and the recipe calls for shrimp, you have to roll that sushi anyway. This wastes precious time, money, and boat space.

The final issue is that if 2 customers order the same thing, you can’t choose which customer gets served first. Let’s say Customer A (left side) and Customer B (right side) both order cucumber rolls, Customer B is getting annoyed because they’ve been there a while, and Customer A is happy. You want Customer B to get their cucumber roll first so they don’t leave angry, and cost you a sale. However, because the finished rolls go into a boat on the left, the cucumber roll will go to Customer A first. Consequently, Customer B will either walk out or not tip you. Both are equally frustrating.

Luckily for me, while there were issues and annoyances, they didn’t hamper my enjoyment of Sushi Time!. I would often catch myself saying, “Just one more level,” repeatedly. It’s very addictive and the most fun I’ve had with a casual game in a long time.

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Sushi Time!

$4.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Fun Gameplay
• Challenging Without Being Overly Difficult
• Addictive

Cons

• Can't Choose Which Customers Get Served
• Some Ingredients Look Too Similar
• No Way To Throw away Ingredients