Never has fast food been so fast! Burgerama is a fast paced pattern matching game where you climb the fast food corporate ladder.

You start out the game as WC Boy the lowly crew member trying to make it big in fast food. The only way to achieve your dreams of someday becoming the Big Boss is to pump out orders as fast as you can.

The orders are displayed in the lower right hand corner of the screen. You must then manipulate the different food items to match the pattern. Hamburgers, fries, shakes and more are arranged on the board and every turn more are added so placement on the board in the beginning is very important. After each successful match the products disappear and you gain points. The food items have to be assembled as in the order window with 1 exception, orientation doesn’t matter. For example if the pattern to match is 4 in a row and you do this in a diagonal line that still counts. Once I figured that out the game became a lot easier!

Once your cash register is overflowing you gain the next level on your way to becoming the Big Boss. Each level gets progressively harder and being able to save your game and resume at a later time was excellent. Thinking ahead several moves in this game will really help you out, just like in chess its all about the setup.

To score points fast there are Rush Orders. These orders award you extra points for a successful match once completed. The rush orders are rimmed in red and MUST be assembled just as shown in the picture. You will usually get a bonus after completing a rush order. You can fill the rush order or keep plugging away at the regular orders. I found that doing the regular orders and using 1 out of 3 moves to fill a rush order worked out pretty well.

There are a few different types of bonus objects to help you out during the game:

• Bombs will clear a small area around a successful match. This will give you some more space to work.
• Easter Eggs are the wildcards of the game. You can combine these with other objects such as hamburgers, fries, cokes etc.
• Cash will last for 30 seconds and will give you extra cash for every order filled. This really accelerates you climb up that corporate ladder.
• The Clock bonus stops the addition of extra food items. This can definatly help out when your game board is getting full. Use this time to set up the board for that levels particular pattern.

  Be careful focusing only on the Special Orders! By arranging items properly you should be able to get every order in on time.

  You also get bonus points by completing multiple orders in a row without missing one. These bonuses really add up. If you can setup the board you can fill 3, 4 or more bonuses in a row and rocket yourself up the levels.

  Conclusion:

  The game plays fairly well. It is not as easy as it looks at first blush. You can resume the previous game so you can play for a bit take a break and pick up where you left off. Burgerama has a cute sound track and sound effects - you will probably want to turn these off for those long meetings. Just as in chess looking ahead several moves would be a great thing. The description of gameplay in the tutorial could have been a bit clearer but overall was good. The learning curve on this game is a bit steep but once you understand the rules and the way the game plays it can provides hours of entertainment.