Full Review

UPDATE: First I must apologize for posting this review early in error, however most of the content still stands with a couple minor exceptions. The latest patch adds a new micro-game mode for periods where you only have a short time to play. It's a neat addition that solves the problem of the main game taking too long to reach a challenging level of play, but some difficulty selection would still be neat. Thanks to these changes and more (including minor achievements for progress) the score has changed slightly, but enough to award a 4/5.

Plates! by Big Mouse Media keeps things short, sweet and simple in their latest arcade title that has you reaching for sauces and adding a healthy dollop of green, red, brown or blue gunk over each plate that passes you by.

Confused yet? Well there's no need to be confused as the gameplay is extremely easy to pick up on. Plates will pass you by on several conveyor belts and it's your task to ensure that each one gets the correct sauce applied to it before leaving the screen. Eventually you'll have to deal with combination plates that require two sauces to succeed, but it's the deadly dynamite-filled hotdog that could be your real undoing as it's an immediate game over if you try to sauce it up.

There's not a lot of complexity to the graphics either, with bright and easy to identify meals quickly passing by and a simple - if not entirely intuitive - system for selecting sauces to make your job an easier one. OpenFeint is supported for high-score boards, however you'll have to wait for future updates for new game modes and achievements.

For now Plates! is an adorable arcade title that sucks you in, but it's hard to remain excited after a few longer runs that take some time to really challenge your skills. Worth checking out for the casual gamer inside of you, but hold off for the updates if you're after a bit more value.

App Store Info