For this week's Mobile Friday i tried Hungry Hearts Ramen from developers GAGEX on my iPhone 14 Pro.
I have seen these restaurant games from GAGEX in the App Store for a while and have nearly reviewed a few of them, but Hungry Hearts Ramen is the first one i have and i'm glad i did as it was a fantastic time. i didn't set out to record a video this long, i was just having such a nice time with the game that i lost track of time as i played.
Time is perhaps the only issue i have with Hungry Hearts Ramen. throughout the video you'll hear me say how i would like a pause button or want the game to pause during the story segments. there is a day mechanic here because customers come to the restaurant on different days but this isn't explicitly said by the game, rather i inferred it from the customer menu section.
For the most part, Hungry Hearts Ramen does a great job at getting across how to play the game and what does what. the tutorial is simple, telling us what to do via text and pictures rather then showing via a gif. but what was nice and surprising is how they use the customers, the Shrine Maiden in particular, to help remind us what to do.
I've highlighted the community aspect of this game in the title because i feel like each of the characters we've met so far in the game are very well written. they come across as genuine and interesting. mistakes and assumptions are made by our main characters but no one seems to get angry. as we played, we got to know a few of them better than others and in doing so this unlocks more food and drink options in the game. there are also customers who make delivery requests. the game makes it clear there's no pressure to fulfil them if you can't and these customers will call back in the future. but if you're able to their requests, we get even more story.
As well as the community aspect, there is another story that we've barely touched upon in this video. i won't go into spoilers, but this seems to be the second time we've opened a restaurant in this town and there seems to have been more of us the first time we did this. i speculate in the video what might have happened but there's no reason why it can't be sad or happy as the stories we've encountered so far have been both.
Graphically, i enjoyed the art in Hungry Hearts Ramen. it's a simple design that seems to look right for the era. the music is nice, too. but after the hour and a half i played the music was starting to get a little repetitive.
Hungry Hearts Ramen does have adverts. i don't mind mobile games, especially the free to play ones, having them. but what really impressed me was how well Hungry Hearts Ramen deals with it. there's a TV in the restaurant that will play an add if you want and that'll restore your characters energy. As our characters are old, and they themselves mention about getting tired, the energy mechanic is well tied into the game universe. There is a banner advert at the bottom of the screen throughout this video. but it doesn't get in the way, it's not distracting, and my focus throughout was in the middle of the screen. And then there are the full screen adverts. thankfully the game put's up a little message that we're going to an ad break, plays the ad, puts the break screen up, and then get's us back into action. it's that attention to detail that makes this simple restaurant game feel really polished and something great.
After playing Hungry Hearts Ramen, i can say that it does make it into my top free to play games of the year list. i won't say where, but it's that good and well worth checking out. there's something for a lot of players here and it's all good.
Version 1.0.1 Played
