Parents' Guide to Food Fantasy

This quirky role-playing game (RPG) is deep and clever enough to fill your belly with fun as you dish up magic food to stop the forces of evil. Food Fantasy manages to break a key rule that most people have been taught growing up: since we were kids, we were told not to play with our food. But apparently, it's okay to use magic to summon avatars of our favorite dishes and send them out to battle against the forces of evil. That's the basic idea behind Food Fantasy, which is a unique hybrid experience. Half of the game plays like a traditional RPG, while the other half is a restaurant simulation. One minute you're fighting off weird monsters in the forest, and the next, you're serving up a fine roast pork dish to table three. It doesn't seem like it should work, but much like the fusion cuisine that gave us ramen burgers and mac 'n' cheese pizzas, the end result winds up being a surprisingly tasty treat.

Like most good meals, though, you're going to have to put some work into the game to get the most out of it. Food Fantasy is complex, filled with character, menu, recipe, and inventory micromanagement. Although the combat pretty much runs on autopilot, the rest of the game is far from easy. There's a lot going on at all times, and it can be difficult to keep track of everything. Spend too much time in battle and your restaurant will start to fall apart. Of course, to keep the diners coming back, you need to experiment with new recipes. And to make those recipes, you need to fight battles for ingredients. Basically, every part of the game relies heavily on doing something else. It can be a bit overwhelming at first, but eventually you start to get into a bit of a groove. There are a lot of layers to Food Fantasy, but with a little patience and work, it's more than enough to fill your RPG craving on the go.