Review: Brunch Club

Do you remember an indie game called I am Bread? The Bossa Studios’ title from 2015 where you control a slice of bread in a mischief adventure to reach the toaster. As challenging and non-sense that game was, it was the last time I had so much fun playing with my food. Well, until now.

Developed by the British studio Foggy Box and published by Yogscast Games, Brunch Club is a party game where up to four players will go crazy in the most absurd kitchens while trying to finish these dishes before time runs out! Grill your hamburgers while avoiding explosions, fry your eggs while dodging sniper shots, and prepare your toats before time runs out in an experience that is as frustrating as it’s funny! Let’s follow the recipe and see if we can become the next Masterchef!

What we liked!

• Gameplay: As crazy as it may seem, in Brunch Club you will control the food: roll your sausages (no pun intended) to the grill, make your eggs jump (no pun intended either) to the fridge, use spatulas to spread jam over scones and combine items all together to finish your missions before time runs out! According to what difficulty level you are playing, stages will have additional challenges like the abovementioned sniper, the solar heat that will melt your ice cream, explosions that will ruin your barbecue and much more! On some levels, you will also need to use your food (or tools) to turn on the stove or other cooking gadgets to accomplish your goals. Keep in mind that controlling the food or tools over the table (conveyor belts or car seats) isn’t easy and physics will play an important role in how you guide a steak from a plate to a fridge (as long as you can ignore the magic jumps this same steak will do).
• Multiplayer fun! With the possibility to play with three more friends in good and old couch co-op, this game is a blast! Completing the tasks will require a lot of coordination and teamwork. But if things become too infuriating – as they are meant to be in this title – you can always jump to a minigame to make the atmosphere a little lighter (or maybe to start a fight with one of your friends… it’s up to you).
• Visuals: The visuals of Brunch Club aren’t the sharpest you will see, I admit, but are still very interesting. The proposal of the game pends more to the comic side and, under this perspective, the game shines: with colorful and well-animated scenarios, it is comical to roll your bread over a bridge of tongs or hopping your bacon slices over the stove!
• Sound: Although simple, the music and sound effects in Brunch Club are quite enjoyable! Not all our readers will get this reference, but the music here reminded me of old midi/wav music we used to have in games a long time ago – and as good and joyful as they could be! Alongside the colorful visuals, they create the perfect party-time atmosphere for this game!
• Game modes: Besides the Main Course (that works as the campaign for this game), you can try the Face-Off, where two players battle to finish the objectives first, the Five-Second Rule where up to four players must get the food through all checkpoints not letting it touch any surfaces for more than 5 seconds, and the Arcade mode with a collection of competitive minigames. All these modes are perfect for you to chill whenever you get too angry and frustrated with the Main Course – especially those levels that you can’t complete when playing alone.

Somewhere between

• The not so long Main Course: The Main Couse, the principal mode you will be venturing into, has only 6 different stages with three difficulty levels each – not that much if you ask me. Even though you will be replaying them over and over again (don’t fool yourself: beating these stages is far from easy), I really wanted to see more levels to increase the longevity of this game – especially for those who will play it alone.

What we disliked

• Collision detection: The main issue I’ve run into (several times) while playing Brunch Club is the collision codetection. And dear God, how frustrating it is when you fail a level because you couldn’t make your way with a hamburger over a bridge made of cooking tools because of… ahmmn… the hamburger couldn’t flip over a spatula, because it wasn’t in the right position. Or a sausage couldn’t jump over a plate because there was some sort of invisible barrier preventing you to do it. And all of this at the same time your grill could close even with a tool inside that, theoretically, would prevent it from closing. Some issues that, unfortunately, turned the gameplay from enjoyment into frustration in more times than I can remember.
• No online co-op: Having a couch co-op option in a game in 2020 feels like a luxury few studios remember (or even spend resources) to implement in their games. As an old-school gamer, I’m always ready to raise a flag in its defense and the first one to thank every studio who does it in their titles – so, thank you for implementing the local co-op in Brunch Club, Foggy Box. But in these hard days we’re facing, not having an online option to enjoy this game with friends is such a let down ☹

Brunch Club is a perfect game for those friends reunion we’ll be making after when we all are COVID-free. It’s funny, challenging and will put your friendship to test while you try to complete the most complicated recipes in the most absurd places! I’ve never though cooking with friends would be that funny! Even with its flaws, it’s a game I strongly recommend you to take a look at – especially if you have friends to play with! Be my guest: the laughs are on the house!