Claire’s Cruisin’ Cafe – Review

Claire always aspires to be a famous master chef, and her dream has a chance of becoming true this time. Join Claire on her cross-country adventure as she opens food trucks, serving delicious dishes to the masses. Can you help her survive the chaos of running restaurants in Claire’s Cruisin’ Cafe?

Is 2020 the resurgence of “dash-style” Time Management games? Apart from all the usual suspects from Gamehouse, we also got hit titles like Cooking Stars and Baking Bustle earlier this year. Claire’s Cruisin’ Cafe is a brand-new Time Management title from Alawar and Yustas Games Studios. This is rather unexpected as Yustas is mostly known for its resource-management style games like the popular Weather Lord series.

Like most cooking games, Claire’s Cruisin’ Cafe has you serving a wide variety of dishes per customer’s orders. There are menus that can be picked up and served straight away and recipes that require multiple steps to prepare. If you are familiar with Time Management games of this kind, then you would find Claire’s Cruisin’ Cafe quit a breezy experience. It is not at all difficult to earn the full three stars on most levels, even with selecting the hardest game mode out of three offered.

With 50 levels and 5 bonus levels spread evenly across six different locations, the game’s environment and theme switch up just often enough for it not to feel dull. However, features wise, there is little to be thrilled about. While the game controls are quite smooth and the colorful graphics are pleasant, the game just feels very dated and uninspired. There is no risk-taking or experimentation with new features – if you tell me the game was made in the early 2010s, I would totally believe you.

That being said, Claire’s Cruisin’ Cafe is not an awful game by any means and there is still some entertainment value to derive from. Given the quality of the game, I would recommend purchasing the standard edition of the game instead of the Collector’s Edition. The bonus package is solid, but might not be worth the premium price tag – it contains 10 additional levels plus one additional bonus level in a new venue, wallpapers, soundtracks, character stories, and achivements.

Avid Time Management fans might enjoy Claire’s Cruisin’ Cafe, but for casual players – this is more of a skip than a must-play.