by Faith Marlow

Created on: December 10, 2008   Last Updated: December 14, 2008

Score 3/5

Have you ever wondered what space food tasted like? How about space food prepared by a telepathic canine cook? In Kukoo Kitchen from QuestTracers, you are swept up into the very unsuccessful career of Jessi, a young woman with a knack for making space age kitchen appliances but with no space cooks to sell them to, she and her psychic- powered pets are on the verge of eviction. But Jessi is an entrepreneur and has a plan. Her dog can use his powers to cook food for hungry space citizens with her machines! What could go wrong?

It seems that Jessi may be the only human in outer space but dogs have taken well to zero-gravity and really enjoy meat patties cooked with Chill Lee's brain waves, just think if Neo was a dog instead of Keanu Reeves and a short order cook instead of The One and you'll have the idea. Point and click is the method to the madness, fill the order and send it down the conveyer, next customer up. Upgrades such as larger portions, sauces and toys are available at the end of each level and help to increase scores. The difficulty increases but remained quite manageable during the 60 minute demo. The President of the Galaxy (a giant frog) presented the most difficult challenge, having to serve him the items he didn't ask for to get the points. But levels are repeatable, allowing the player to go back and get the coveted Golden Fork award if the original score was lacking.

Graphics are cute and cartoonish, suitable to the spirit of the game. Backgrounds and animations have an understated, hand drawn look in a style similar to the early days of the Dragonball series and is a nice change from the usual, more rounded animations of similar games. Several cutscenes pop up throughout the game that maintains the artistic style of the gameplay- giving the game cohesion while furthering the story. The music is the usual hash- a triumphant sounding ditty that is meant to build anticipation for the adventure to come. There are several futuristic sound effects, beeps and buzzes from Jessi's various Frankenstein machines that add to the cute factor of the game. Voice over work for Jessi, Chill Lee, and several other characters is a very nice addition and cements the anime feel.

Kukoo Kitchen has a super-sized order of creativity in respect to storyline and characters but the gameplay could use a little spice if it is to separate itself from all the other similar titles in this genre. Innovations such as upgrading the spaceship's appearance, expanded menu options and more variety to the temperament of the customers would have helped. However this is a solid game that is well suited for gamers of all ages and skill levels and is offered through Big Fish Games very affordably. I plan to purchase this game for a young relative and I am sure she will love it.

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