On the outside, Pizza Express may look like another quickly made 8-bit game thrown up on steam but it's so much more than what it seems. I should start by saying Pizza Express is a pizza restaurant simulation game. In the game, you will play as yourself as you help out Gastone with his new pizzeria. With the help of his other friend Lucky the three of you set out to become the best eatery in town. You have 30 in game days to reach the top of the F.L.A.B.'s (Finger Licking Associated Bistros) eatery list.
Pizza Express is a much deeper simulation game then one would think at first glance. The game will have you not only making the pizzas but you will also have to manage everything from advertisements to buying more tables and of course topping pizzas any way you want. That's right if you want to make a pizza with French fries on it, you can. There are tons of combinations you can make. You have to set prices and pick the quality of the toppings and dough and even pick what method of shipping you want to for your toppings. You will also have to buy new furnishings for the restaurant to raise popularity and make customers wait longer. You can buy everything from high chairs for kids to a disco ball. You can also set up special discounts such as free drinks if so many pizzas are sold to one customer or group discounts and such. Every ten days you will receive interest from the bank giving you some extra cash to spend.
Onto pizza making. When an order comes in you will have to make the pizzas they order and this is as easy as clicking and dragging the toppings onto the dough but you must watch out as you have limited supplies. Right clicking on ingredient will order more and depending on the shipping method you picked it can take some time to arrive but faster shipping cost more money. The pizza making is much like time management games such as Diner Dash.
With interesting and funny characters the story line is surprisingly fun, funny, and charming. The game has multiple endings you can get and subplots really make this game have good replay value. Although some of the translation isn't so good at times it's still a worthwhile story but if you don't like reading through story lines you can skip all the scenes with the tap of the space bar. And did I mention all the characters in the game are talking animals! Graphically the game is not good - you could argue simple to a fault. It uses 8-bit graphics which can be an eyesore at times and makes some of the text hard to read. On the other hand, the music is pretty decent and fit the game well.
One other mode of play is challenge mode where you can play arcade mode or endurance mode. In arcade mode, you have five minutes to get the highest score you can by making pizzas fast and without messing up. You can use your menu from story mode or make a new one and save to use in these two modes. Endurance mode has you trying to last as long as you can while keeping customers happy. Mess up and it will bring a timer down and once it reaches zero its over but if you can make no mistakes and be fast you are sure to get a high score. All scores from these two modes get uploaded to an online leaderboard so you can compete with friends and other players from around the world.
If you enjoy management simulation games then this game is for you. I really enjoy the deep simulation aspects of the game and making pizzas for customers is fun too much like in time management games. The fun characters and story really help this game along and is highly enjoyable for almost anyone. Give this game a try if you love pizza!
Game Information
PC
Developer(s):
Onni Interactive
Publisher(s):
Black Shell Media
Genre(s):
RPG
Simulation
Strategy
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
None
Article by Jim
