Stand O' Food City: Virtual Frenzy is not just another game where you have to frantically make fast food against the clock - instead it mixes this mechanic with a very basic SimCity.

An interesting mix of city building and a fast food frenzy

A follow up to Stand O'Food, Stand O' Food City: Virtual Frenzy creates a more involved experience by adding the ability to build a city around your food empire. The game is basically a mix of a race against the clock and strategic city building. The plot centers on Ronnie, Nikki, and Clarence who are trying to develop the perfect restaurant but are constantly thwarted by the evil Mr Torg who keeps destroying everything.

You can build up to seven types of cafe with several different specialties i.e. lasagna, beef, fish, salad and chicken burgers, breakfasts, and chocolate cakes. There are almost 600 recipes to master in the different restaurants. You must satisfy rabidly hungry customers in order to upgrade your restaurants and kitchens, maximize profits, and keep your customers happy.

The other part of the game is based around constructing homes and buildings in order to expand the neighborhood and, by extension, your business. You can't really build a great deal though. You can build farms, factories, and homes but beyond that you can only decorate your city with flowerbeds, drinking fountains, and ice cream trucks. As you progress, you can earn achievements and rewards which provide more cash to expand.

Slow going without in-app purchases

While the construction side of things is quite easy, the food frenzy part of Stand O' Food City: Virtual Frenzy is incredibly hard. In fact, it's so fast and furious that it's almost unplayable as customers come at a ridiculously fast pace.

Part of the problem is that the farms take ages to grow and harvest food which means you simply can't keep up with demand unless you've got hundreds of farms on the go at once. Of course, you can buy diamonds in order to speed-up the process, but this gets extremely expensive with a sack of diamonds costing almost $50.

The overall concept is a nice idea though, and Stand O' Food City: Virtual Frenzy is more interesting than similar games that are just a race against the clock to feed customers.

Cute city and restaurant building animations

Stand O' Food City: Virtual Frenzy doesn't feature any particular innovations graphics wise - the restaurant and customer animations are cute but follow the same format as other restaurant games of this genre.

The city building part of the game isn't exactly Sim City-esque but Stand O' Food City: Virtual Frenzy isn't a game you play for the graphics anyway - it's all about plotting a strategy to put food in mouths and build your empire.

A brave attempt to spice-up the genre

Stand O' Food City: Virtual Frenzy is an admirable attempt at innovating on the fast food frenzy genre but you'll need a lot of cash if you want to succeed.