Johnny’s Payday Panic Review

All work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy. Meet Johnny; A wannabe big shot. We all know someone like Johnny and in some ways can relate to him. After seeing Elvis (Yes Elvis) drop his rare collectables cards, Johnny comes to the conclusion that this is the reason Elvis is such a big shot. So with that Johnny decides to get multiple job so he can save up enough money to buy more cards and finally become the big shot he’s always dreamed of being. From the creators of Cooking Mama; Office Create bring a manic mini-game outing of working your way to the top. The answer we want to know though, is work fun?

Employed by various food chains Johnny must deal with all manners of people, serving up their exact order fast enough that they don’t leave frustrated. This becomes increasingly hard as customers demand more food and become less patient. When time runs out your score is taken from how many people you have served along with deducting for any disgruntled customers.

You may think Johnny has a bit of an attitude, wanting to be a big shot. You’d be right yet what I love is how the game portrays everything he does in the same manner. Little things like pausing the game mid-shift expecting to see the pause screen instead reveals “On Break”. Or instead of having the normal quit option you have “Slip Out”. They may be small and considered insignificant but they all brought a smile to my face. This then transfers well into the 2D art-style which similar to that of a WarioWare title allows the few characters to have a strong humour to their personalities.

Without difficulty you can end up picking one mini-game you like and sticking to it throughout. In my experience I found the Ice Cream and Kebab Shops to be my forte and stuck to them for the majority, especially when trying to purchase those higher priced products. The bad side of this is once you unlock all six jobs, devoting your time to one can become tricky as you will get constant calls from your other employers asking where you are. This annoyingly similar to real life feature is actually quite ingenious. The danger with sticking to one job can massively decrease the lifespan and make you fatigued much quicker, so by introducing the concepts of skipping work it gives the player great sense of variety and a reason to experience all games on offer which in turn helps carry the game forward.

The greatest compliment I can give to Johnny’s Payday Panic is just how easy it is to pick up and play. Literally within minutes you can be immersed in Johnny’s daily routine as he frantically attempts to serve every customer coming his way. The simple yet repetitive tasks are very smart at making you addicted. Within a few plays I was obsessed with trying to raise my score. The little incentives gained by slowly increasing my level were enough to keep me coming back for more.

The premise of Johnny’s Payday Panic seems monotonous on first look, nevertheless once you jump in, you’ll soon realise that work surprisingly can be fun. The addictive nature, easy to pick up trait, wonderful music combines to make a competitor for anyone that loved the Cooking Mama series. For the price paid, You are rewarded with a tremendous, yet repetitive outing that if you let it, can end up in sinking it’s teeth in you for days. Now if you’ll excuse me I have half a dozen jobs I’m late for.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo 3DS code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.