[quote]A review copy was provided by the developer.[/quote]
[quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote]
[h1]Overall Rating - Painfully Bad ★☆☆☆☆[/h1]
[h1]First Impressions[/h1]
Every so often, a casual game about running a business sounds enjoyable. Out of all places, the strategy group I contribute to received a review key for Latte Stand Tycoon+ (LST). With others not showing much interest, I thought it'd be a relaxing game to dabble in, even though the summer heat makes coffee sound rather unappealing. Hopefully the game overcomes that bias.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
Something I dislike about the game is how you are dumped into the center of town with little explanation as to how you should go about setting up your cafe. All you need to do is buy some ingredients, but none of the mechanics for serving coffee or satisfying the customers are explained. Every drink you make is comprised of three flavor profiles; coffee, milk, and spice. Whenever choosing what to put into the drink, each of those categories can only use a single ingredient. For instance, you can't blend two different kinds of coffee together. If you want a strength of three, you'd either serve three portions of a one strength roast or one portion of a three strength roast. You can't combine a one and two strength together. Ultimately, you want to match as closely as possible what flavor combination the customer wants, since that'll best satisfy them. Initially, that'll mean sending out multiple shots of weak coffee with however much milk and cinnamon they prefer.
Each ingredient you can purchase has a price per unit, and will become more complex as you level up. Your starting options only impact a single flavor point, but as you unlock more ingredients, they'll taste stronger and cost more. Mixing the right flavors can be more complicated when dealing with ingredients that overlap, but they also yield more efficient profits. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the entirety of the game's complexity and interest. Aside from falling behind as customers line up, there's no rush in making drinks, and little worry about messing up unless you choose the wrong blend and need to adjust it.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3023674146
[h1]Controls[/h1]
Although the game works with a controller, there's no options available to change them. Most of them work fine, but I question some of the choices made. For instance, pushing the Start button in order to complete each order, when there's plenty of unused buttons that'd work just as well. It's somewhat of an odd overlap while bringing up the options menu or quitting the game. The more annoying issue would probably be when shopping. In order to increase the amount effectively, you need to hold the up arrow instead of tapping it, as the game doesn't clearly distinguish between your inputs.
[h1]Story[/h1]
It's certainly not original, with a grandfather passing away and leaving his beloved property behind to the next generation, but it's a safe route to go for this kind of game. Maya and Mia inherit their deceased grandfather's run-down cafe, and with limited support from a long-time friend, the mayor, they'll try and rekindle the former glory of the coffee shop.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3023186222
[h1]Visuals[/h1]
Since you run a coffee shop, your store opens at a crisp 4:00 AM. This explains why the background scenery is so dark, but even as it lightens up during the day, the visuals of LST look somewhat muddled. I can generally tell what things are in the environment, yet not all elements show up with equal quality. For instance, when cars pass by with the glow of their lights, they look distinct and grab my attention. However, all the customers and NPCs don't even have a complete face, let alone show any emotions. With how limited the landscape is, as you can't leave this small part of town, I find these visuals lacking.
[h1]Sound Design[/h1]
I didn't notice many songs in the game, but I was aware of at least two tunes. While I was playing, the first track was predominant, which would make sense as I spent most of my time in the coffee shop. The tune has a calm, mellow feel to it, and even somewhat has that safe, commercialized feel to it. Sort of like elevator music, giving the sense that somebody made as unoffensive a tune as possible. It was only during an event where I was provided with a canopy for a storm that I noticed the second tune. My impression was that it came about because of a scripted story event, but it did make for a nice change either way. Aside from a few beeps and boops from making drinks or shopping, there's few sound effects to speak of.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3023186496
[h1]Pros[/h1]
🌟 LST released a couple of years ago, but according to other reviews and discussion board posts, was given a makeover and had some tweaks made to the gameplay. That's when it got the plus sign.
🌟 Even when your cafe isn't that popular, speeding up the gameplay makes it so that customers show up fairly often. You don't have to wait very long.
[h1]Cons[/h1]
❌ Key elements of the gameplay aren't clearly explained. Sometimes, one cup of coffee will seemingly sell for significantly more than another. I don't know if it's because specific customers have exact matches that they tip generously for or some other factor.
❌ The first few days feel especially slow because your profit margins are so thin, yet you already have to keep up with your basic supplies, let alone more expensive versions that arise. It'll be a while before you can do anything else besides staying stocked up.
❌ The gameplay gets boring quickly.
[h1]Tips[/h1]
🔍 It's helpful to have several portions of ingredients you use often, even if they don't sell for the maximum possible. That way you don't have to keep returning to the shop to restock.
🔍 I'd buy the cheapest shop or house upgrade as they're available. They all carry benefits, so it's not worthwhile not buying something you could for a more expensive one.
[h1]Final Thoughts[/h1]
From my short time with LST, I find that there's a few key flaws that disrupt its potential. One is having to replenish supplies so often, let alone needing to slowly walk away from your store in order to do so. Not only does it break up the gameplay with a menial task, it also keeps undermining any advances you're making towards your financial goals. Routinely having to chip away at the money I'm making on basic supplies really doesn't put me into a better mood.
The second and certainly greater problem is the gameplay mechanics themselves. Making and serving coffee is too basic to be that engaging or interesting. It didn't take me long to get bored of the process, selecting a combination of three ingredients to make the ideal drink for the customer. Feeling like the progress I'm making is constantly being reset, along with lackluster gameplay, combines into a very bad mix for holding my attention in the long-term. I can't think of many who'd find that motivating, so I wouldn't recommend LST.
[quote][url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/thestrategyinformer/]Come join our group page: [b]The Strategy Informer[/b] for other great reviews, strategy, and strategy adjacent content![/url][/quote]
[table]
[tr]
[th]PC Specs[/th]
[th]Performance[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Ryzen 2700
RTX 2070
16GB RAM
ADATA SSD
1920x1080
[/td]
[td]The game ran without incident on default settings.
💖 - LST is healthy
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
