Overview
Shakes on a Plane is a charming title much in the same vein as the Overcooked series. It’s certainly designed to be a fun and chaotic co-op experience, even though you can also play by yourself. Choosing from four different characters, get ready to sprint across the plane preparing and delivering food to passengers during your flight. Did I forget to mention you must also clean up once a passenger finishes their meal? As you fly around the world, each flight gets increasingly harder, adding to the preparation steps, food choices, and even amount each passenger will order. Of course, there’s also the plane tilting that will throw off your movement. Up to four players can play at once, and that’s where this title will really shine in all its chaos and glory!
Controls
You’ll find that the controls are fairly straightforward. As a bonus, they are always listed on the character selection screen. This is a nice feature that makes the game easy for any new player to pick up on the spot. You are also given a mini tutorial before starting each level, which is helpful. Still, you will probably find yourself clicking random buttons a few times in the beginning before the controls come naturally. Each character has a “special” which activates when you press Y, but otherwise all characters perform the same functions. Coordination between players is key here.
At the end of each round, you are ranked based on your successes and fails. You can receive up to 3 stars. This is based on how fast you were able to tend to the passengers in delivering food and recycling their trash. You will also have to deal with pesky kids running into the kitchen and stealing trays or food. While you actually have the ability to plough through them, unfortunately you can’t run them over like you can with the other passengers (I’m fairly certain this negatively affects your rating).
Level Design
Each level feels very similar, which makes it easy for anyone to pick up, even in the later levels. While there’s no real qualms about the structure of the levels, I would have liked to see more variety with the types of food and the interior design of the planes, besides just the plane layout. As each flight takes place across different destinations around the world, this would have been a great opportunity to make each flight feel unique and incorporate some cultural flare. Instead, every flight feels much the same which takes away some of the excitement about moving through the levels. Either way, I still found Shakes on a Plane highly replayable with the co-op feature.
Conclusion
With 27 total flights to play through, you’ll find your challenge cut out for you. Even though this title also has a single-player option, it can be difficult to manage all the tasks by yourself. In fact, it’s definitely a game that shines as a couch co-op and should really be played as such to get the best experience. If you are looking for a casual title to play with family or friends, this is a great choice. It will have you passing the time by yelling at each other while attempting to manage the orders! It might take a couple of levels to get the hang of the movement and rhythm of the game, but it certainly achieves the fun and chaotic factor that makes co-ops so charming.
You can find Shakes On A Plane available on the eShop now.
Special thanks to Assemble Entertainment for the review code.
