November 23, 2010

“The Cocktailian” is a Really Horrible Bar Name

I don’t want to brag, but I am now a bartender, apparently. I even have the .jpeg to prove it, as you can see. How did I earn such obviously official training? Why, by playing Nimble Strong: Bartender in Training, of course.

Nimble Strong is a fascinating game, since it is in a fairly small group. Here’s a game that’s actually entertaining that teaches you a potentially useful set of stuff, much like, say, the majesty of Typing of the Dead. While you aren’t mixing the drinks for real on your iPhone, of course, you are having to memorize the names and recipes of many drinks in order to succeed in mixing them in the time-crunch scenarios the game puts you in. You can always look at your little book to read the ingredients while playing, of course, but you have to look at the book in real time, and eventually taking too long to review will cause you to not have enough time to mix the drinks properly. It really does start to make you learn the various drink types, and once you finish with the story, a “survival” mode lets you quiz yourself by constantly throwing drink orders at you, outside of the story, and without being able to look at your book of ingredients.
The only thing, gameplay-wise, that bothers me is the Recipe book you have outside the game. There’s a menu option to just let you look at the book, to help mix your own drinks. However, you have to unlock them with the tip money you get from playing the game. This seems needlessly game-y. It would be much more useful, if I was going to actually attempt to mix drinks, to simply have that reference always available for IRL situations.

The story elements of the game are acceptable, although not particularly amazing. The website promises an “epic storyline,” which it really isn’t. At the same time, it does a decent job. It’s obvious from the title and character design that the game is trying to steal some style from Phoenix Wright, and it does that to an extent. The characters are interesting enough to keep you from being completely bored in the story segments, though aren’t spectacular, perse.

Still, if you’re the sort who’d like to learn how to make these drinks, this game seems like a fantastic purchase. I had fun just with the game aspects of it, though perhaps it was a bit pricey, considering I’m probably not learning anything that will ever be of use to me. However, if you were to drink, I think this is a great way to learn the basics. Wrapping it up in a game just makes sense, and it is fun. It’s worth a look, anyway.

[…] put in something that was just “sour”? I dunno how drinks work, even though I have my e-bartending certificate. I am just guessing. Anyway, it was nice enough. I could drink a one of those if in a social […]

Pingback by The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net! » Blog Archive » I Drank A Thing. — April 29, 2012 @ 12:13 pm

Leave a comment