Do you love multitasking? Can you handle the crunch of time-sensitive food production? Do you just really love cake?
If you answered yes to any of the above, the latest mobile hit Bakery Blitz: Cooking Game by old-school social game dev RockYou may be just the game for you. Available on both the Google Play store and the Apple App store, it follows the free-to-play model with options to drop real cash on in-game coins.
It looks fairly simple from the outset, to the point where you might mistake it at first glance as just a kid’s game. Have no fear, there’s enough of a challenge to keep any adult addicted, and it is decently generous with the amount of actual playtime you get out of each session without really trying to force you to pull out your wallet.
Looking to get started? Here are some things you should know and remember!
1. Keep calm and keep moving on.
It’s easy to start getting a little overwhelmed, especially when you start making mistakes — your cakes burn up in the oven, or your coffee spoils on the counter, and customers start storming off in a huff.
Don’t worry about it and keep going.
At the very least, try and make it through the stage with at least one star. This is fairly easy to do, since the game does have a little leniency on how long you keep waiting and how many orders you botch. This way you’ll still get some coins out of it and you can always try and repeat the level without much penalty.
2. Know your currencies and main map icons and what each of them are for.
They show up on the top of your screen in the main map area. From the top left:
Crystals:
These can be purchased with cash, and can be spent in conjunction with coins for certain ingredient and equipment upgrades. They can also be traded for Tickets, which will allow you to move on to the next set of challenges.
Coins:
These can be purchased with cash, but you will use and earn many of them simply by playing the game per each challenge — and also if you meet any of the Land Goals. Many of your upgrades will be available for coins only. (Be warned, if you start shelling out for upgrades, you’re going to run through these pretty quickly.)
Tickets:
You’ll earn these throughout by playing and replaying stages (especially if you manage to get higher star ratings on stages you’ve already played), and they will allow you to move on to the next land area and set of levels.
(Note: You can’t buy these from the cash shop, but you can buy crystals to trade for them if you really want to move on in a hurry.)
Lightning:
This is your energy and you’ll use it up as you play each stage.
(Note: Replaying old levels and beating them will still drain your energy meter!)
The timer underneath indicates how much time you have before it recharges on its own. You can buy a recharge if you want, but the game also gives you the option of watching videos (yes, more than one!) to regain energy faster without paying. If you attach the game to your Facebook account, you also have the option of asking your friends to donate energy to the cause. (But do friends really like spamming friends?)
Settings:
(Little green button with the gear) This allows you to turn on and off the music and sound effects in the game, your notification settings, connected accounts, game info, and has a link to rate the game.
Mailbox:
(Bottom left; paper airplane) This allows you to access your mailbox. If you connect your account to Facebook, the game will give you extra rewards. This is also where you have the option of asking for or sharing energy and coins with your friends.
Watch & Earn:
This is the fastest way to access the option to watch videos for more energy (alternatively, trying to start the level you want to play without enough energy will prompt you with various methods of regaining energy).
Location:
Bakery Blitz is arrayed in a map formation like most 3-star mechanic games, and each area is named differently to tell them apart.
Goals:
These land goals give you extra rewards for completing certain objectives (cumulative) throughout play. They can be easy to accomplish (e.g. spend 140 coins) or require specific things that come up randomly (e.g. serve 20 chocolate cakes with raspberry filling to customers) as you play.
Bazaar:
This will lead you to the upgrades shop where you can purchase upgrades for ingredients and equipment in exchange for different currencies.
3. You have two hands – use ’em!
A weird reminder? Maybe, but it makes sense in the context of this particular game. Since a huge part of playing it is multitasking, you’ll be shoving in cake batter and pans into the oven, running around filling, icing, adding toppings, and brewing coffee, all at the same time.
So it’s important to remember that even if one cake is still getting filled, you can pull out the second cake from the oven before it burns, and swap at the station. You can hold two cakes at a time and serve one while on the way to decorate the second!
Some actions will require both hands, however (e.g. adding cake batter into a pan to put into the oven).
(Note: It’s also important to note that while you are holding the item, they aren’t burning or cooling. Thus they can be held indefinitely and won’t burn up or cool by sitting unused on the counter.)
4. Your holding plate is there for a reason!
Just like with #3, if you happened to screw up a cake (or the customer stormed off while it was halfway through the process of baking), there’s nothing wrong with keeping it aside in the holding plate (which will hold whatever’s put in it indefinitely) in the hopes that it can be used for a future customer’s order.
It definitely beats dumping it out and bleeding coins (plus valuable time and customer affection) in the process.
5. Keep your customers in order!
It can be hard to tell them apart or know exactly who came when, since they don’t line up in any particular order and are often repeats of the same character model.
6. Trouble-shooting tutorials.
During tutorials, the game will blank out all parts of the screen except for the button that they want you to tap. Occasionally (especially if you have your phone set to auto-rotate and accidentally flip it around a little) it will actually force you to tap in a tiny area that you don’t actually want or need to.
This happens often enough to get annoying.
On Android phones (I’m not sure about those players on iOS devices), use the back button to get back to the appropriate screen they want you to click through.
Failing this, force close your game and re-launch it. Note that this second option may result in losing some of your coins in the tutorial while you’re just starting a new stage and not just trying to buy an upgrade in the Bazaar.
Hope these help you out! If you have any other questions or issues, just leave a comment below and I’ll see if there’s anything I can help you out with!
Final Warning: I say this every time, but be leery of sites that offer hacks for games and game currencies, particularly if they ask you to install anything onto your computer or your phone. There are plenty of ways to get more game time out of this game, you don’t need to take unnecessary risks.
