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    What’s more addicting than a Match 3 game? A Match 3 game combined with click management! That’s what Restaurant Rush brings to the casual game market. Combining both the puzzle and action game genres seem to be a really good idea. So does Restaurant Rush deliver?

Heidi is back in this sequel to Burger Rush. After chosen as the best burger chef and winning the grand prize, Heidi decides to take the prize money and open a free cooking school so that everyone can become a great chef. (Being a cook at home myself and having dreams of being a chef one day, this definitely gives Restaurant Rush brownie points in my book.)

After opening the cooking school, Heidi must prove herself to the World Culinary Federation by opening up her own successful restaurant franchise. Combining the addictiveness of Match 3 with the frenetic pace of time management games, Heidi must make match pieces on the grill to fill the different customers’ orders. Each order consists of several different components which correspond to the pieces Heidi must match. For example, the Chinese fried rice maybe consist of six rice pieces, eight pork pieces, and eight lettuce pieces. On the Match 3 grill, Heidi must match that amount of pieces to complete the fried rice order.

The pace quickens when Heidi has multiple customers and therefore multiple orders to fill. Not only does she need to match pieces on the grill, she must bring the food to the customer and collect money, and of course, it must be done in a timely manner as to not anger her restaurant’s patrons. By having this system of filling specific orders, Restaurant Rush adds a level of strategy where the gamer cannot just match pieces blindly, but rather they must recognize which specific pieces they need to match in order to fulfill the customers’ requests.

Restaurant Rush ups to ante by adding tons of additional features to keep the gamer busy. By fulfilling each day’s goal as well as meeting different bonus challenges, Heidi receives tokens that she can spend at the mall, the farmer’s market, or the record shop.

Heidi can decide to go to mall to and shop for new recipes for each of her different restaurants, which include American, Chinese, Italian, and more. In all, there are more than 50 different recipes that Heidi can buy. The more complex the recipe, the more pieces Heidi must match on the grill in order to complete the recipe. However, the result is that each customer will net you more money.

At the mall, Heidi can also purchase desserts or upgrade the drink or soup machines, which all help to either make the customers happier or to increase their patience.

The farmer’s market is another nifty feature that allows Heidi to increase the individual value of each separate ingredient. For example, if Heidi’s menu consists of a lot of hamburgers, it might be a good idea to upgrade the ingredient values of lettuce and beef in order to collect more money for the hamburger orders.

The last type of upgrade Heidi can purchase with her tokens is music for the jukebox. By clicking on the jukebox and playing specific songs, certain customers will actually be happier and more patient while waiting for their food. This adds another level of complexity to the time management aspect of Restaurant Rush since each of the different customers have their own personal tastes for specific songs in the jukebox.

Restaurant Rush has great comic-style graphics which remind me a bit of those old Archie comics. The music ties in nicely with the different types of restaurants. For example, the Italian restaurant has a great soundtrack which makes me think I’m in an Italian pizzeria.

Although it is not too difficult to reach the daily goal, hitting the expert goals is a challenge that will keep most people busy with this game for a good while. Not only does it require some fast matching and clicking, it requires a good amount of strategy to determine which recipes and ingredients to purchase.

All this great content and impressive replayability ensures that Restaurant Rush is a successful sequel to Burger Rush. It should definitely keep fans busy with fun and entertainment!