by Timothy Blankenhorn

Created on: December 12, 2008   Last Updated: January 08, 2009

3/5

Fast food in space? That's the idea of this downloadable game for PC's. Except you don't have to eat it; you just have to get the customer orders out the hatc h- quickly and accurately!

Kukoo Kitchen follows the the efforts of a space entrepreneur named Jessica, who has prepared fast food for space voyagers, but the food has not, as they say, "moved". It is piled in the storage area of her space ship.

Her landlord threatens to evict her if she doesn't pay her rent, and she is at wits' end. Space chefs aren't buying her stuff. Calling upon her feuding space companions, who appear to be a dog and a cat, she suggests that if they become space chefs, who can use her technology, then her log jam of inventory will start to sell.

The cat (predictably) responds to this plea by leaving town, feeling that its superpowers are best used for more important projects. The dog, named Chill-Li, however, dutifully answers Jessica's call to duty and flies into space to be a chef.

Later, in his space kitchen (as meteorites float by his porthole), we see a conveyor belt , a hamburger machine, and a drink machine. As orders appear (in thought bubbles of Chill-Li's three canine assistants) the player fills the orders using his mouse. Pink drink...hamburger..hamburger...blue drink, etc.

Although easy at first, this process of filling orders, and earning money, gets more hectic. The orders become more complex and the conveyor belt gains in speed. In steady contact with business promoter Jessica, Chill-Li is encouraged to buy bigger and faster machines, to sell fries, etc.

The action of the game, developing and using the capacity to fill orders, is intriguing, and it has to be useful for the young children (5-9 years old, as a guess, and girls rather than boys) for whom this game seems to be intended. No reading is required, just the useful and complex task of developing concentration and working memory. It is easy to picture adults - moms and dads - engaged by this task, and seeing how far they take the order-filling challenge without making a mistake.

The animation is reminiscent of the Jetsons and of Saturday morning cartoon shows, with happy voices and repetitive graphics. The music has a merry-go-round flavor and gets a bit tedious.

The game is easy to navigate and follows a winding road map as the player makes progress. A child could handle the game independently.

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