Sushi Chain is a fun new time management game from Touch Ten. Bringing a taste of Japan to the iPhone and iPod touch, Sushi Chain serves up a pressure filled restaurant running experience with impatient customers and a demanding taishou, or boss.

Players assume the role of a frustrated office worker looking to get away from the monotony of the corporate world.  After calling in sick to his formal job, our character decides to try his hand as a sushi chef in a local restaurant.  Please the boss by properly preparing dishes for the never-ending onslaught of patrons.  Each customer has a dish on his or her mind.  Dish recipes can be studied in the available cook book which is onscreen at all times.  Goof up a dish or take too long to serve it, and the customer will get mad and leave.  If enough customers leave your reputation indicator will decrease.  Serving ocha or sake will help with holding onto a good reputation. However, fines will be incurred upon serving a minor.  So be careful!  Within each level, the boss sets a profit and reputation goal that has to be reached before the time meter expires.

To make a recipe, players must tap on ingredients on the right side of the table.  Once the correct ratio of items is placed on the mat, tapping on the mat will serve it up to customers.  This can get pretty tricky and exciting since all recipes are conjured from the same ingredients, just different ratios.  Take for example the Tokyo Roll.  It is created with a combination of one part nori, one part rice, and one part roe.  On the other hand, combining one part nori, one part rice, and two parts roe, will create a Roe Maki.  Items can be depleted too. So, if the inventory is low, players need to get on the phone and order more items.  Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that empty plates need to clear to allow for more customers to arrive.  Score well and compete with friends with the built-in Scoreloop global rankings.

Sushi Chain is a win in the graphics department. Colors are rich and inviting – a must for any up and coming restaurant business!  The music is strangely Country-themed but integrates well to set the entire mood.  We would like to see a better defined user interface, as it can be confusing at times without defined icons.  Yet, the introductory tutorial helps players get acquainted with the environment.

Here’s congratulating Touch Ten at creating a fun time management app with Sushi Chain. We’ve all been in the predicament at hating our day jobs.  Now we have an escape into the sushi making world full of beautiful visuals and engaging gameplay.  At $1.99, Sushi Chain gets our AppSmile 4-Dimple rating.

Sushi Chain gets our AppSmile 4-Dimple rating: