Meredith Sweet

The fourth installment in PlayFirst’s Wedding Dash series sees the return of wedding planner Quinn, along with her roomie and familiar face Flo, star of the best-selling Diner Dash series of games. Quinn’s own wedding with photographer hottie Joe was called off in the last game, but her well-meaning mother Lynn, a former Miss Texas, hasn’t heard…and Quinn’s terrified of telling her. While avoiding telling her mother the truth, Quinn and Flo have to put up with Lynn interfering in their joint wedding planning-and-catering business, for better…or for worse.

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Meredith Sweet

I remember reading a letter to the editor in a recent issue of Game Informer that complained about an article featuring FarmVille, one of the most wildly-successful casual gaming apps to hit the Internet. Rather than buy standalone games for their consoles or computers, people are now turning to the Internet for brief spurts of entertainment in the form of Facebook games. Like it or not, casual games like FarmVille are increasingly popular and look like they’re here to stay. And of course, they still merit all the poking and prodding of any other game we might deign to cover here at Gaming Dead. When you feel like wasting time without burying yourself into strategies and replays, casual games certainly have their advantages.

In the case of Diner Dash maker PlayFirst’s first entry into the social gaming arena, Chocolatier: Sweet Society is definitely a tasty appetizer, whether you are a “hardcore” casual gamer or a true on-again, off-again player looking to sample some of PlayFirst’s delicious wares.

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Meredith Sweet

Every now and again, it’s good to take a break from all those first-person shooters, monster-thrashing RPGs, and gem-matching puzzles. Enter the world of casual games, where companies like PlayFirst and Big Fish excel. Sure, a lot of their games are the same type of casual game, just in a newer, shinier package, but they can be surprisingly addictive and fun to play, like PlayFirst’s “Gotcha! Celebrity Secrets.”  I picked it up because PlayFirst offered me a $2.99 game from their selection of already low-priced games. I decided to pick the one where the protagonist looked suspiciously familiar….

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Meredith Sweet

In the words of the late, great Harry Snyder (founder of In-N-Out Burger, in case you didn’t know), “Do one thing, and do it well.” Some game companies have unofficially adopted this credo, namely PlayFirst, the makers of the mega-popular Diner Dash series of games. The bulk of their games are based off the same premise as Diner Dash and its successors: meet the criteria given to you by a picky customer. Meet it fast, and meet it while you’re also sweeping the floor, cleaning up tables/racks/counters, and letting others in. Whether you’re Flo in a diner or Sophie, the 1940s perfumer, the concept is basically the same. The vast majority of their games fall into this “time management” genre, although there have been a few notable titles (including spin-offs of their hit time management games) that add mystery, puzzle-solving, and adventuring to the list.

PlayFirst recently partnered with Big Fish Games, maker of Penny Dreadfuls: Sweeney Todd and Expedition: Everest and other “casual” games in many of the same genres as PlayFirst’s own titles.

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