There are few things in this world I appreciate quite as much as my favourite foods. Creating an entire visual novel around my favourite food however isn’t really something I think I would have the words for, or indeed the interest in. It turns out, that in their infinite wisdom, however, Roseverte, the developer of the latest Ratalaika Games published adventure think they can do just that. Welcome Takorita Meets Fries, and after an hour of painful reading, here I am left trying to describe the experience and why you should or shouldn’t be playing it.
Takorita Meets Fries is quite simply a basic story adventure, in which the focus is placed on Princess Takorita who hails from the Tako Sea Kingdom. As the tale begins, we are introduced to a Princess who has grown sick of eating nothing more than soup, seaweed and fish scraps, and in an attempt to improve her nutritional intake, and introduce a little more flavour and variety to her mealtimes, she ventures above the waters, ignoring the wishes of her loving parents, but taking her personal bodyguard Mermer along for protection.
From here, throw in a potato, a chef, a newfound love for fries – or chips to us in the UK, and a whole lot of tears from Takorita’s bodyguard Mermer who seems to annoyingly be forever showing emotions, and unwavering determination to find the perfect ingredient to make this food even better, and you have yourself a sort of destined love story, albeit a terribly dull one, about a young princess and her ever-growing love for fast food.
Let’s just hope she doesn’t ever find a cold one, as that’s a sequel we could all do without!
What’s more depressing than an already incredibly dull narrative, that somehow spreads across 4 chapters, is the lack of any real meaningful interactions to go with it. Throughout the entire game, there are only two real choices to make with reading taking up the entire experience for the rest of the time, and with no spoken dialogue to note, this is certainly nothing more than an expensive book for its runtime.
Of course, for the Achievement Hunters out there, any title with a Ratalaika splash screen seen somewhere within the load up is ripe for easy achievements, and Takorita Meets Fries is certainly no different in that regard, with all achievements possible in as little as five to ten minutes of playtime. Sure, you won’t get the full experience, but having spent the time to read through each chapter, it’ll be the Gamerscore you jump into this one for.
Now I don’t want to sound too critical, this is indeed still an artistic effort and visually, it’s not awful. Each character has a charming and sweet design with anime-styled vibrant colours and eyes that simply pop from the screen, helping to create that almost loveable nature for each one. When the gameplay isn’t gripping though, this can be hard to appreciate and whilst the artistic team should certainly give themselves a pat on the back, there are very few other positives that shine through.
There is one anomaly that comes with the game’s visuals, however, and that is the fact that for some reason, Takorita Meets Fries manages to come fully equipped as a title that is optimised for Xbox Series X|S, complete with 4K Ultra HD and 60FPS. Now you won’t find me complaining that a developer or publisher has decided to ensure the most optimal experience is to be had on the latest consoles, but for a visual novel, with a run time of no more than 1 hour, and an experience that is simply reading from a screen, you have to ask what’s the point?
Having also had the time to load up Takorita Meets Fries on my Xbox One X and Series X consoles, there is quite simply no differences that I could see gained from these advertised improvements and whilst we can’t fault the inclusion of optimisation, it would have been much more welcomed to have seen that time spent making the story experience more fruitful and engaging.
As mentioned earlier, there is a couple of different moments in which you’ll need to make a choice within the game, resulting in a different story path for your choice, of course, you’ll need to go through each of them to make sure you get the full story experience. However, with no difference in any of the game’s endings, there’s no real excitement to be had from a different choice, and if it wasn’t for the slight boost to Gamerscore, it’s unlikely that many would be interested in progressing past the halfway point.
Conclusion
Overall, if you’re after a game that is engaging, worth your time, money, and effort, then Takorita Meets Fries is not really a game I can recommend for you. If you want some easy Gamerscore, then £4.99 is the price you’ll pay along with five minutes of your time for eternal glory to be imprinted in that coveted digital score.
This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox Series S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.
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