Diner Dash: Flo On the Go

It’s always struck me as odd that someone would want to play a game that simulates a boring and repetitive activity. The idea of travelling back from pushing paper in an office all day, whipping out my phone and engaging in a spot of Dishwashing Championship 2010 is about as appealing to me as eating my own hand.

So far I’ve managed to avoid all previous Diner Dash games for precisely this reason. What on earth could be so appealing about a game where you play a waitress having to deal with a variety of bossy and uncaring customers?

The Diner Dash gameplay is very simple to grasp. Customers arrive at the restaurant and you assign a table to them. They peruse the menu for a short time, you take their order, and then you deliver it to the chef. She cooks it, you give it back, get the payment, and finally throw the dirty dishes in the dishwasher.

This all sounds incredibly dull, I know. Hang on, though - it would be a rather short-lived business if there were only one customer. Thankfully, there are a number of different groups wanting attention simultaneously and Flo only has two hands to work with.

Oh, and there’s the individually sized groups to worry about too, and the colour-coded seats that give bonus points, and that cursed baby just spilt water on the floor, and now the phone people are annoying the bookworms and, no! No! Don’t leave the restaurant! My score! Think of the score!

It should come as no surprise to the Dash veterans among you, but Flo on the Go is one heck of an addictive and absorbing game. At times when you’re juggling the happiness levels of all six tables, each filled with a different type of customer, the rest of the world just seems to melt away.

The controls are logically mapped to the keypad so that the tables and extra items line up perfectly under your fingers. To help keep things simple, all of the game’s features are introduced smoothly throughout the 25 levels so as not to overwhelm.

Each level takes place in one of five new locations, ranging from the somewhat believable Cruise Liner, to the highly unbelievable Submarine Hull. The graphics are cartoony and detailed enough to pick out individual types of customers immediately, and the change in scenery does help keep things interesting as the difficulty ramps up.

It’s around this time though that the most frustrating element of Flo on the Go rears its head.

Nine out of ten times Flo will follow your commands exactly, but occasionally she becomes rooted to the spot for a few seconds. At first this isn’t much of a problem, but when you need to line up moves perfectly to grab that elusive 6x multiplier, it’s hair-tearingly frustrating when she suddenly seizes up.

Despite this, Diner Dash: Flo on the Go still remains a compelling time-management game, even if Flo occasionally won’t go.