Yoshinoya

[Bleeders]

Finally got round to playing this today and like the videos suggested, it's suitably bizarre.

After simply pressing the 'O' button on the default choices, I was thrown into the game where I was given the option of selecting a character; a couple were blacked out, which I imagine, can be unlocked at some junctue during the game. Anyway, once my character was chosen I was greeted with a screen showing the in-game manager, who went on to spout something in his native tongue.

With the managerial pleasantries out of the way, I was lead through a brief tutorial of the game before I was let loose. From my limited play-time, there were a selection of 6 stages, which saw my character having to accomodate the customers by serving them their food. This is done by pressing the relevant buttons when prompted, it sounds easy, but around half-way through the level a siren sounds and the game speeds up, which of course, you have to keep up with. Press the wrong button and the customer goes away disgruntled. The same of course occurs, if you don't serve them in a timely fashion either. This is all measured by the bar on the right-side of the screen.

After the 3rd Stage had been successfully beaten, I was put through my Yoshinoya-making paces by a customer, this is where I actually halted play, since I haven't managed to work out what I'm supposed to be doing beyond the Shenmue-QTE like aspect of the game.

It's very much a scenario of trial and error with this game, you will get there in the end, but obviously due to the language barrier, it does make things a little awkward. However, with that aside, I had good fun playing it.

[Kubrick]

Just been playing this tonight for a few hours, so I'll add my observations.

You start off in a small "Yoshinoya" with just a few seats that are within easy reach, but in later levels you will need to deal with more customers in even bigger restruants against a harsher time-limit.

Each "Yoshinoya" comprises of 3 stages and the aim is simple- serve the specified number of customers the food they want before the time limit runs out, and that's it. Manage this, and you'll face a "Boss" customer who must be served a meal (created with some timed button presses) that they have to be satisfied with before you are allowed to progress on to the next "Yoshinoya".

That's about as complex as the gameplay gets, but thankfully, there is some depth involved thanks to the chain/combo system. As you continue to serve the customers correctly, you keep the "chain" going much like a shooter, but if you get an order wrong, or take too long between customers, the chain ends and damages your chances of success.

It's also possible to "combo" customers who want the same order providing they are sitting next to each other. This is handy for boosting your score, and "customer happiness", but a succesful combo will also add a few extra seconds to the time limit. Using combos pretty much becomes essential on later levels...

Once you familiarise yourself with the menus and general game structure, it's very easy to play and quite compulsive. Continues/retries are infinite, so it has great "one more go" factor.
There's little or no JP language skills required to play the main game once you've sussed everything out. There is however, a multiple choice quiz thing that is entirely in Japanese. It's not part of the main game though and only an extra. I still managed to trial and error my way to success on one of the sections anyway

Score attack is the other main mode of play. Any levels unlocked in the main game can be played here.

Graphically, the game is good. I doubt the simple cel-shaded graphics make the PS2 work very hard, but they are stylish and look nice, and suit the game very well. Ditto for the sound & music.

Overall, a fun game to play, but it seems pretty short-lived and easy. I made it to level 5 (of 6 I think) in just a couple of hours before I stopped playing. Level 5 looks much harder than what I've done so far though...