For me, there is no question that Restaurant City [RC] is the best food game on Facebook but Cafe World [CW] is slowly eating away at RC’s gamer market share despite having ugly graphics and being a copy cat.

Here are some theories I have on why:

• Many gamers on RC have probably reached a plateau wherein the game no longer poses any challenge or discovery. This happens after about a month of devoted game play and when the player is already at around level 20 and above. You can no longer hire additional staff. Your popularity points stays at 50. Your dishes are maxed out at level 10. And it seems that the only thing left to do is to buy stuff and more stuff. But the more expensive the stuff is, the longer you have to wait because the influx of your income is more or less at a steady rate. There is no variable pricing in RC so whether or not your dish is at level 1 or level 10, you only earn 2 dollars for it.
• I don’t know if there are cheats for Cafe World, but I know many articles have been written on how to cheat your way through RC using Cheat Engine. While having a way to accelerate the game pace is convenient for some, it shaves off some interest for gamers who like to play the honest way. What’s the point in investing a month of game play only to be surpassed in the rankings by a friend who has only played for a day. An exaggeration? Perhaps, but I believe the statement drives a point.
• Cafe World appears to be a more challenging game since you really have to invest time for it. One of the challenges for me is trying to serve dishes which I cook for hours. When I get back, the food usually has gone stale. While a challenge, I also find this very annoying. The restaurant is filled with people when I log on and I don’t have any food to serve. So whatever popularity I’ve built up quickly goes down. But other players love challenges and harder difficulty levels so perhaps this is one of the appeals of CW.

RC has released some new updates today – new items, decors and clothes, an overhauled trading system (well not really), and the introduction of Playfish coins but these to me are not enough to inject renewed interest. Playfish money is only a money making engine for the developers and gamers can usually smell this a mile away. I know of very few people who are willing to invest real cash when they have already invested their time. Browser based games are a means to pass the time, but not really worth the money, unlike console games.

If RC wants to regain player interest, they should introduce new concepts. Perhaps a market or grocery to buy meat and non-crop ingredients where you can readily avail of all ingredients and not have to wait for the day when ingredient kid sells the item you need. Variable dish pricing is still on my wish list. A chocolate shake should cost more than lime water. New dishes which sell at a higher price per level would be a welcome addition. And finally, there should be more methods and items for increasing popularity. Perhaps they can add a marketing side to the game or even food delivery services. And why not add ingredient delivery and logistics while you are at it.

Oh well, guess I’ll have to be satisfied with that new bow and tie suit. Still RC will always be my choice over CW. Better graphics, not much maintenance, and plenty of variety really appeals more to my palate.