Coffee Craze

There's one criticism to get out of the way before we start this review and it's that Coffee Craze will have you craving a steaming hot cup of joe and a fresh brownie. It's the worst game you can buy if you're on a diet, or attempting a health kick which involves only drinking green tea.

The longings it stirs up are testament to the game's visuals though. Its coffee shop looks every bit like the sort of place you'd like to spend many a happy hour reading a newspaper and watching the world go by. As it is, it's every bit a place you'll enjoy spending time working in, in the virtual sense, because Coffee Craze is a neat example of how addictive these customer-serving management games can be.

Keeping things simple, the game allocates each action to one of your phone's 12 face buttons. So customers line up at your coffee shop counter in either the '1', '2' or '3' position, and pressing the appropriate button allows you to take their order. Then, the various items they'll ask for - coffee, espresso, cake, brownies and pastries and so on - are all allocated to other buttons, which handily match the position they're located in the kitchen.

Where Coffee Craze excels though is with the simple inclusion of being able to line up actions. So even if you press a button while your character is already busy, the button appears at the bottom of the screen and, when the current action is complete, your character will move to the next one in the list. The number of actions you can line up appears limitless, which means that - with a fully functioning brain in place - there needs never be a moment of inactivity. Earning the maximum money possible in a day simply means being one step ahead of yourself at all times.

Still, in the wider scheme of things, Coffee Craze also keeps things a bit too simple. Play for a prolonged period and you'll discover the days hardly vary except for an increase in the number of customers you get through the door, leading to an increase in the numbers that get impatient if you keep them waiting.

There are a couple of considerations that aren't just stacking up drink brewing and cake collecting, admittedly. For instance, if you run out of a certain type of cake or pastry, you have to use the oven to bake some more, which means extra forward planning comes into the game - if you're running short on something, it's best to cook some more up when you have a quiet second rather than wait until you're completely out and keep customers waiting.

There's a very comprehensive upgrade system too. In between every level you get the opportunity to spend your hard-earned cash on things like a quicker brewing coffee machine, roller skates to get you moving faster, and a speedier oven. These upgrades make a noticeable different to the game, and buying them provides a good incentive to keep playing, even when the gameplay is getting repetitive and all your brain can picture is stacked up lines of brownies and sponge cake.

So while there are more comprehensive games of this type available (see Diner Dash, Wedding Dash, Cake Mania etc), Coffee Craze is an good example of one that doesn't try to do too much and succeeds in delivering an addictive experience.

Although like the cup of the black stuff, it's better in short sips than gulps, but unlike coffee that's hardly a bad quality in a mobile game.