Review – Overcooked! 2 (Switch 2)
Everyone talks about Mario Kart and Mario Party as being tester of friendships, but Overcooked! is the tester of relationships. How quickly everything can fall apart and devolve into yelling at each other and not talking anymore really is a special art form, but we choose to play it anyways. Now, Overcooked! 2 has got the Nintendo Switch 2 experience, and no matter how much it can strain your sanity, it’s time to discover what it changes from the original Switch.
A wolf and a narwhal walk into a kitchen…
For those who don’t know, Overcooked! is a series (two games so far) of co-op cooking games. If you don’t have someone to play with you can control multiple characters by yourself, but it can get confusing very quickly. Every level rewards stars based on your total points which are awarded for making dishes correctly, making them quickly, and making them in the order that they come in. While on the surface this can sound simple, when you have a ton of different dishes to make, mixed with having to go through portals to get everything you need to cook, and suddenly things are on fire, it quickly goes wrong. Believe it or not, it’s a ton of fun!
And we start again… (this is only my 7th time starting Overcooked! 2 fresh)
So what does the Switch 2 version of Overcooked! 2 add? The first part is the most obvious, 60fps and 4k resolution. This game was far from ugly on the original Switch and already ran great. Does it look a bit better? Sure, but as much as it may sound like a huge improvement, it’s honestly barely noticeable based on the actual design of the game. It also adds a new chef to pick, CameraPlay, so if any of your friends online want to see how mad you’re getting they’ve burnt another burger, now they can. Plus, Game Share, so you can share the game with anyone with a Switch 2 that doesn’t already own it. Of course, since it’s technically just an upgrade to the original version, save data transfers if you want to keep your save files.
The part of this upgrade I don’t understand is why Switch 2 didn’t just get the All You Can Eat version that came out with the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. Yes, technically you had to buy the game again, but it came with both games and all of the DLC, which is great if you haven’t played them already. Plus, it continued to get updates for holidays and reasons to return to the game. This upgrade is just better visuals and running a little smoother for £8. It feels like a missed opportunity to really get people back into the series when Overcooked! 2 originally released seven years ago!
Sometimes, it’s just better to jump off.
Basically, the long story short is that I love Overcooked! 2 and think it’s a ton of fun to play, but I find this upgrade pack confusing when five years ago a more definitive version was already released. For the money this upgrade pack costs, I would be more likely to advise that you just get some of the DLC if you don’t have it already. It’s going to give you more to do than this will.
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Graphics: 8.0 Even on Switch 1, Overcooked! 2 never looked bad. Based on the way this game is designed, there’s not much of a difference in the 4k resolution upgrade, which kind of speaks to how good its always looked. |
Gameplay: 8.5 Much like the graphics, this is a game that has always played well, so making it 60fps doesn’t feel like its changed much in the actual gameplay from what I already knew originally. |
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Sound: 8.5 These songs will be stuck in your head for days. How Overcooked! 2 has some of the best ear worms is beyond me, but at least they’re fun to hum and sing along to. |
Fun Factor: 6.0 I stand by that there’s something major missing for Switch fans and this release. It’s a great game, but deserved more when we already know in the past five or six years Overcooked! has offered more, just to other consoles. |
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Final Verdict: 7.5
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Overcooked! 2 is available now on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
Reviewed on Nintendo Switch 2.
A copy of Overcooked! 2 was provided by the publisher.
