Casual Games Reviews, News & Talk

Rebecca and Robert return in Turbo Fiesta taking their high energy and crazy-paced business out of space selling Mexican food. This time management game never feels too slow, not even at the beginning. In fact, it doesn’t take long before I fail to meet the level’s goals.

I cruised — with lots of bumps along the way — in Turbo Pizza and Turbo Subs. But hit a brick wall (or space station in this case) early on with Turbo Fiesta. This is a good and bad thing. It’s good because those who complain they never feel challenged by time management games should meet their match here.

It’s bad because Turbo Fiesta goes from 0 to 100 too soon. I can’t be too bad if I finished its predecessors’ games. Novices to time management might want to skip this one unless they’re patient and ready to jump in head first.

When I say “out of space,” that’s what I mean. Location, location, location matters in the restaurant business. I suppose this game fast forwards to the future to a time when there are plenty of customers in the sky. The customers’ attitudes (their moods drop as fast as ever) remain the same despite being way up high in the atmosphere.

Robert does the cookin’ while Rebecca does the runnin’ to pass out menus, pick up orders, nuke food, and collect change. Robert has it easy since he has robot arms that help with the food. Although the game remains similar to the previous two, it adds a turbo meter that rewards combo actions. When making enough combo steps, the turbo meter cooks in and Rebecca becomes Wonder Waitress, moving as fast as a speeding bullet. I love this.

After turning on turbo mode three times in a level, you’ll reach Fiesta mode and have a ball. Unfortunately, the two times I reach Fiesta mode… it’s the end of the level so I hardly enjoy my siesta. The dark space scene brightens up with Mexican decor that comes with a piñata and Mariachi music. Ah, that’s the best part since everyone is happy and you don’t have to rush anymore. Alas, it takes work to get there.

The mini-game offers a fresh perspective of the Pipes game. Turn the pipes and parts until everything connects — except in this case, it’s to restore power. Clever way to blend the mini-game with the story as the restaurant loses power.

Plenty of upgrades await including one that lets Rebecca carry three items at once. Only a couple of games have this feature, so I keep forgetting she can carry a third item. Upgrades up the price of food items, add color to the restaurant, help Rebecca and Robert work faster, and more. The superb graphics still impress and the music lifts.

Turbo Fiesta needs to offer an easier mode even for us experienced time management players. It stinks to get stuck early in the game or else the game is no fiesta. While the latest in the Turbo series introduces only a couple of new features, it remains as hyper and colorful as ever.

Download Turbo Fiesta from your favorite site:

• Big Fish Games
• Playfirst
• Reflexive