by David Lawrence

Created on: August 14, 2008   Last Updated: May 18, 2011

Yummy Drink Factory by Amaranth Games is a drink-stand simulation game that is fun and fast-paced but does not have much to do with factories; I guess Yummy Drink-stand' just sounds odd.

There are four modes of play in Yummy Drink Factory; these are as follows:

Story Mode in this mode you assume the role of a young woman who has no consideration for other people. One day you upset the wrong person, an old lady in a remote coffee house who turns out to be a witch. She magically transports you to Fairytale Island, which does not sound too bad until you find out that the only way to get back home is by spending your days serving the islands' inhabitants from a drink stand, this is as a lesson to teach you respect and humility. You have to learn to master 20, 28 or 38 recipes depending on the difficulty level you have chosen. Only when you have mastered these recipes can you return home.

There is a useful tutorial at the start of the first few days serving that teaches you how to grind cocoa beans, steam them and serve them using the simple point and click or drag commands. Every day or so you get new flavorings, types of cream and toppings and you must learn a new recipe, starting with simple drinks such as Hot Chocolate or Chocolate Floats leading to drinks containing swamp ooze and warts!

After a few days of trading you also acquire a tip jar, these tips are given to you in the form of gems which you spend at the General Store to buy garlands and other decorative items for your stand which pleases your customers.

Freedom Mode (our recipes) this mode does not follow the storyline but essentially keeps to the same format. You still learn new recipes and get new equipment from day to day but there is no tutorial for this mode.

Freedom Mode (your recipes) this mode is the same as the other freedom mode except that you get to use your own recipes; these recipes are designed in the final mode, create and share recipes.

Create and Share Recipes in this mode you make and share your own recipes combining the many flavours and toppings as you desire to make your own unique drinks out of the hundreds of combinations. These recipes can then be used to play Freedom Mode (your recipes.)

Yummy Drink Factory is not a new idea as there have been lots of food and drink simulations in the past but this is still hugely addictive and enjoyable. The point and click system is familiar and simple to learn and the graphics are colourful and fun even though they do lack variation when it comes to your customers. The music is in the form of soothing medieval music and the subtle sound effects are well used.

Overall this game scores 4 out of 5 and is definitely on my shopping list.

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