Lunch A Palooza

I feel like we’re reviewing a new food-based game almost every week lately, and you know what - I actually don’t mind! Lunch A Palooza, from developers Seashell Studio, is an interesting new party game where you take on the role of one of a variety of foods to defeat your foes. Unfortunately, one thing stood out here in that while the game has a solo option, where you can play alone with up to three bots - it just isn’t at all enjoyable that way, which is fine if you have kids or other family members/friends available to play along with for the local multiplayer. Sadly there is no option for any online capabilities - something which would have been a wise addition.

The quirky art-style is fun and interesting, with settings such as diners and arcades which are fairly well detailed. This was something that definitely caught our attention, as art-style is one of the first things you’ll be able to judge from seeing a game. Some of the locations even include some unexpected achievements tied to items in the background that you might never have guessed without checking the Achievement list.

Characters will bob around the foreground, on surfaces such as picnic tables, airplane seating and even an air hockey table. These allow for some variety in gameplay mechanics, as maps will change or be affected during play, adding another layer of challenge to what you’re doing. Character design is fun, with varying food items with adorable big googly eyes. There’s also a tonne of customisation options, with the ability to choose from different characters and a wide variety of skins that unlock as you play. Sound design is very cheery, with a full-on jingle as the game starts. There’s definitely a lot of underlying humour here, with over-the-top chaotic tracks that fit well with the overall lunacy.

Controls are surprisingly frustrating in Lunch A Palooza. Different foods have slightly different abilities, and whilst there are minimal controls to remember - just three buttons to jump, grab and attack - it feels like you have very little control over most of what your character actually does. This made the game very discouraging to both myself and Allan, but strangely had no impact on the kids (although I think that’s probably down to them relying on a combination of button mashing and luck most of the time!), so they have often asked to play this over some other titles in our library when playing together. Having the upper hand against your parents definitely seems to be the pull for them here!

Priced at £16.74 on the Xbox Store, Lunch A Palooza seems like it’s a little bit expensive for what it contains, but as long as you have people at home, particularly kids - or friends to come over - to play with, then you’ll get a decent amount of replayability out of it due to the unlockable skins and maps. And with four different gameplay options, including the “Main Course” base style, and a King of the Hill style option: King of the Cloche. It’s definitely a more appealing option for kids, but for ourselves, the controls (or lack thereof) were enough to put us off keeping this in the regular pool of games to return to.

In the end, we decided to give Lunch A Palooza the Collecting Asylum rating of 4.5/10.

Have you played Lunch A Palooza yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!

- V x

Thank you to Alternative Software for the Lunch A Palooza Xbox One review code!