Burgerama by BallShooter Games

23 JUN 2004

When I first heard of ‘Burgerama’, I was thinking of a type of game similar to Lemonade Tycoon.

I was wrong. Instead, Burgerama is a puzzle game with food as the backdrop story.

BallShooter games is the company that released the award-winning title BrickSlider.

They have also remade classic games for the Pocket PC such as Pac Man and Lode Runner.

Installing the Game

If you’ve purchased the game, installation just requires double-clicking the file and following the onscreen directions to install the game onto your Pocket PC. All the files of this game will occupy approximately 1.8MB of space on your Pocket PC. There is no need to enter a serial number.

Starting from the Bottom

You are a worker employed in a fast food place. Your job is to arrange food to fulfill the orders of the customers. You begin the game at the very bottom of the corporate ladder as a WC Boy and your objective is to become the Big Boss or owner of Burgerama as you progress through the levels.

The game is played by arranging the food items on a grid to match the pattern arrangement shown on the bottom right of the screen. For the most part, you will need to arrange similar food items in a 2x2 square. This is basically a remake of the classic game ‘Lines”. When you move a food item, more items will appear next turn. As you progress through the game, you will notice certain twists in the game. For instance, there will occasionally be a special order by a customer where they want the food arranged a special way. If you manage to fulfill the special order, then you will receive a bomb timer. When you have a bomb, you have 30 seconds to fulfill an order in order to take advantage of the bomb. The bomb will destroy nearby items where the last order was fulfilled.

You progress through each level by filling up the level meter. Your score determines what position you are in Burgerama.

The special items in the game are what makes the game fun. As mentioned before, there is a bomb. In addition there is Cash, Egg, and the Timer. The Cash removes the order of the same color. The Egg is like a wildcard and allows you to match it with any other item. Lastly, the Timer keeps the board clean by not allowing new items to appear within the specified time period.

It’s All About the Combos

Although most people will be fine just filling orders one by one. Combos will become crucial as you progress in the game. Combos not only get you more points, but it will fill the level meter faster and will help you remove more food items.

Interface

The game’s interface has a very clean look and is simple. Everything is neatly organized making it easy to find things.

There is a very simple tutorial if you have never played the game before. In several screens, it describes the rules of the game and the things you can do in the game.

Graphics/Sound

The graphics are very colorful with a lot of use of yellow and orange. With the simple shapes and colors, you will be able to easily distinguish one food item from another.

When playing the game, there is background music that is light and catchy. One thing I noticed was that every time you fulfill a food order, you’re supposed to hear a cash register sound. To me, it sounds a bit scratchy and might annoy someone after a while. I guess it’s not necessarily a bad thing since you will be relieved by the sound you hear when you do a combo. This could be seen as encouraging you to do more combos in the game.

Conclusion

Pros:

-clean and colorful graphics

-special items make the game fun

Con:

-could have special items a little more often

-clear button shouldn’t be right next to ‘OK’ button in High Scores

The game is $9.95 and can be bought at www.ballshooter.com.

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