Chefy-Chef Review | TheXboxHub

It’s not an auspicious begin. Chefy-Chef sounds prefer it’s been named by the identical individuals who voted for Boaty McBoatface. It’s printed by Ratalaika, who don’t usually punch above a 3.5/5, and it prices lower than a big popcorn on the cinema (we reside in an costly space). Not that value ought to matter, however you don’t usually see a winner for lower than a fiver.

Nicely, maintain the presses, as a result of the stupidly named Chefy-Chef is quite sensible. It’s small however completely fashioned; a recreation that has zero pretentions, but does the whole lot you could possibly potential need from a funds platformer. It performs nicely, has some neat concepts that push it away from different video games, and it retains issues assorted over a protracted previous house of time. That is, dare we are saying it, the yardstick for concise platform video games.

We needed to rewatch the opening cutscene to recollect what the story was about. The principle character is Chefy, and he’s obtained a style for pineapple-radish salad. However as he approaches the fridge, it goes all Ghostbusters and teleports him to a few worlds of platforming goodness: the jungle, icy mountains and a swamp. In every degree, held aloft on a pedestal, are the three elements of his prizewinning salad: a radish, a pineapple and a few milk. If he collects all of them, the fridge-portal reappears. Chefy hops in, hoping every time that his subsequent leap would be the leap dwelling.

There’s some type of social commentary occurring, as there’s additionally a hidden burger in every degree. Presumably, Chefy has a style for a grimy smash burger, and likes to maintain that secret hidden. 

However what completely makes Chefy-Chef is its kitchen utensils. Yeah, you heard us. Within the ranges, you may come throughout a knife, a garlic hammer and a frying pan. These are mapped to LB, X and RB respectively, they usually stick with you for the size of the extent. Duck right into a fridge, they usually should be regained from the next degree. 

The knife isn’t something notably new. It’s a wall-climb, as you dig right into a wall with the blade and clamber up. Nevertheless it’s additionally a projectile weapon. Chefy-Chef doesn’t do what you assume he’ll with it: there are treasured few enemies within the recreation. So, as a substitute, it’s more-often used to obliterate partitions and hearth by way of small gaps to ricochet and press buttons. It’s obtained one thing of the Swiss Military Knife about it. 

The garlic hammer, once more, isn’t a weapon. It’s a conveyable springboard, as you smash the ground and catapult your self up the sport display screen. It doesn’t care a lot for the floor it propels off, both: you may smash into spikes to get a hefty elevate, for instance, which makes it a powerful safety towards a spiky dying. Handily, it could additionally smash blocks beneath you, which the knife can’t handle.

However the pièce de résistance is the mighty frying pan. It’s a beast. You’ll be able to throw it in a mighty arc, after which shortly faucet RB to teleport to it. A crevasse is stopping you from reaching a change on the opposite aspect? No worries – simply toss the pan and teleport to it as soon as it lands on the opposite aspect. It could actually swoop you previous hearth, spikes, brambles and extra. We would like one for reals. 

They won’t appear staggering on their very own, however what makes Chefy-Chef a advice is the synergy between them. Throw a frying pan onto a wall, teleport to it after which stick a knife within the rubble to climb upward. Toss a pan over some spikes after which use the garlic hammer to bounce skyward. These things mesh in quite a lot of methods, and successfully means that you could attain any space on the sport display screen, do you have to be nicely outfitted. The information that nothing can cease you is scrumptious.

The degrees, in flip, have enjoyable with that information. They make the degrees into mazes, however the paths are far sufficient away from you that getting there’s a problem. Maybe you don’t have the utensil for this explicit impediment, so that you search in one other path. The degrees are constructed like tiny Metroid dioramas: areas are blocked till you’ve gotten the utensil that will get you previous them, after which it’s onto the following degree with the identical downside. The endlessly resetting Metroidvania strategy is one that you can think of different video games stealing. 

It’s not good by any means. The burger collectibles are hidden within the oddest of manners. One vine, leaf or flower within the degree jiggles barely greater than the others, and that is the place the burger is hidden. However enemies and Chefy will make those self same vegetation jiggle each time they contact them. So, looking for collectibles has an unsatisfying edge: you assume that you just’ve discovered the extent’s burger, but it surely’s only a leaf that’s shifting as a result of a monkey tossed a bomb in its neighborhood. 

And sixty ranges throughout three worlds is a little bit of a stretch. The worlds supply new hindrances like sticky goo that stops you double-jumping, or icy, sliding platforms, however they get launched extraordinarily not often. We discovered ourselves getting a little bit antsy for a brand new world to be launched, as we felt like we have been executed. However the counterpoint to that’s that you just get an enormous quantity on your £3.99 – roughly 4 hours of play, we’d guess. So, for those who can abdomen a little bit of repetition, or play briefly bursts, then the issue will likely be minimised. 

We wish to give Chefy-Chef a hug. It’s far tighter, extra imaginative and endlessly extra enjoyable than we anticipated. We have been making ready ourselves for a few of the most uninterested in platformers, and as a substitute we obtained a textbook instance of how a £3.99 gaming snack must be made. So don’t hesitate – pop to the fridge and whip up a fast dish of Chefy-Chef. 

You should buy Chefy-Chef from the Xbox Retailer