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- Paradox Interactive
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- Paradox Interactive
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- Paradox Interactive
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- Paradox Interactive
Restaurant Empire II
Released On: May 26, 2009
64
6.8
Where to Buy
Where to Buy
All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
64
10% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
80% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
10% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
64
10% Positive
1 Review
1 Review
80% Mixed
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
10% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Restaurant Empire doesn't offer a main course very different from the first episode, but is certainly a good management game. The two campaigns are long and challenging but the game leaves a strange taste in your mouth, you definitely like it but actually you think that something special is missing.
While much of the time you’ll wonder how you managed to progress to the next level based on the complexity of the game, many will ultimately find the game to be very thorough and addictive.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 21 User Ratings
6.8
43% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
43% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
14% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 21 User Ratings
6.8
43% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
43% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
14% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Let me start with a story;
A long time ago, back when WafflesTM was just a wee lad, he had a grand total of ten dollars and fifty cents. Being the spendthrift little boy as he was, he ventured into the local Walmart store to find a jolly old game to play on his parents computer. Little boy WafflesTM soon found a cheerful looking game by the name of Restaurant Empire that he immediately began to want for. The total price of the game? $10.00 (and 50 cent tax). He gleefully skipped to the check-out counter where he paid his ten and fifty and ran home to enjoy his new-found game. Ohh but what fun he had playing this joy ****! Hours upon hours where spent building restaurants, organizing menus, and hiring staff. The young boy who was Waffles was overjoyed at this seemly limitless game!
A dozen years later, grown man WafflesTM browses the Steam store to find another game to review in a dire attempt to become noticed by the Steam community. Startled, he runs across a familiar title: Restaurant Empire II. What? Was he being deceived? His childhood game had a sequel? And was on Steam? Thanking Gaben, WafflesTM quickly bought the game instead of Super Noah's Ark 3D, downloaded, and installed it. A couple hours later, here he is, ready to give his honest opinion on the game.
Restaurant Empire II is a restaurant tycoon simulator where you take control of a young chef, fresh out of culinary school and ready to take on the Omnifood corporation. The game plot is rather simple, and most of the mechanics are even more so. The main goal of the game is to keep your customer satisfaction level high in order to maintain a five stay rating. You do so by selecting dishes that have high ratings, updating your furniture to increase comfort levels, placing decorations to... well, increase your decoration level, and hiring and training staff to provide the best customer care possible. In the sandbox mode, this is actually quite easy as you start out with a large building and you cannot start out with lower than $500,000. I simply furnished the bottom floor, hired my staff and spent $10,000 a month on training them (after several months there were virtually no complaints about them), added only dishes that had a 75% or above approval rating, and decorated the floor so extravagantly that a four star rating was achieved in a few months in game time. The five star rating took only about a year!
Really, the main strength of the game is the original campaign which only gives you $40,000 to start out with. Although you also begin with a fully decked out kitchen, dining room, and restrooms, you still have to add decoration, add dishes, hire staff, etc. Several of the options (such as advertising and training) are blocked so the jerks who are your staff act all high and mighty for the first dozen challenges without the ability for you to stop them. To throw a curveball when you least expect it, a well known character in the game gives you $250,000 to set up and maintain his nephew's new restaurant, which has no kitchen or restrooms. Meaning you have to set up everything with the money you've saved up to that point. The challenge is real and completing all objectives can be difficult but fun.
Because the mechanics are so simple, I really have to look at the game as a whole in order to give my full opinion on it, and frankly, there is not much to see. Perhaps if the game had a fancy HD remastering, or an ambitious remake, the appeal would be greater. The game feels pulled out of it's time in the steam market with fancy titles like Prison Tycoon, or Tropico V to keep it company, but without the aesthetic of it's counter parts it largely goes unnoticed. Despite this, I wholeheartedly recommend Restaurant Empire II to the individual looking for such a game. Maybe it's the nostalgia kid in me happy to play this game once again, but REII is a joy to play and quite simply a time waster for tycoon fans to enjoy.
I rate this game 7/10, would loose childhood in again.
Thank you for your time!
The Older but not Wiser
WafflesTM
Report
PC
Restaurant Empire II is an engaging enough management sim that can be enjoyable and even occasionally challenging at times, and with the wealth of options available offering huge variety in the gameplay, if you become hooked then it will last a while.
If you are looking for a tycoon style meal then chow down on this because you won’t find a better restaurant management game out there.
Restaurant Empire 2 is a little tricky to evaluate. On one hand, you’re getting two games that give you glimpses of what it’s like to run dining establishments, both of which manage to essentially get the job don and pack in a story to boot.
Somehow or other Enlight managed to gather enough fresh ideas for an expansion pack, but they believe that they made a breakthrough. Dreamers!
You can admire the complexity and new ideas in Restaurant Empire 2, like cafés or patisseries but you can’t deny the confusing controls and the fact it soon gets repetitive and boring. [Aug 2009]
Got this as part of a bundle with 5 other games for 3 bucks. This game is unique in that as a tycoon game it actually has a story that doesn't just seem jammed in there because they have to, it's there to actually show you the game. The menu system is pretty in depth. I like the game, it's not a must own as there are some flaws (it can be hard to get into) but if you want something that has decent depth and is pretty unique than this is a game that can help you pass some time.
Report
PC
Really boring, don't find this game fun at all. Just feels confusing and it's repetitive and not fun to watch.
Report
PC
Summary The sequel to Restaurant Empire takes you further into the depths and delights of the culinary universe than ever before. Take part in an exciting world where the customers are fickle and the bounty in your cash register changes as quickly as their tastes. With two handfuls of cash and a dream of stamping a legacy, build, cook and hire y...
Rated E
for Everyone
Platforms:
- PC
Initial Release Date: May 26, 2009
Developer:
- Enlight Software
Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Genres:
