App Store Rating: 4+
Genre: Hidden Object/ Sim
Number of Players: One
Developer: Alawar’s Friday’s Games
Release Date: Sept 22, 2009
Rating: Buy it!

I never really know what to expect when a genre of games is introduced to the iPhone. Hidden Object games can be great on the PC or they can be truly terrible.  Thankfully, Gourmania for the iPhone/ iPod Touch falls in to the first category.  Gourmania is a combination Hidden Object and Sim Game where players have to complete recipes by finding the hidden ingredients.

The story places the player as a chef working his or her way through a series a restaurants. The flow is very smooth and each level ends with a mini game giving players the chance to earn bonus money. The mini game adds a puzzle element to the game.

Gourmania had several challenges to overcome. In general, I find Hidden Object games very difficult to play on small screens.  Imagine trying to touch a radish the size of a pencil eraser on the iPhone’s screen.  Actually, finding said radish would be the first challenge.  Gourmania overcomes these challenges by allowing players to zoom in.  This made the game much more playable. However, in later levels, the zoom feature disappeared making the controls less responsive.   I was hooked by this time and the lack of zooming made me feel frustrated but not frustrated enough to stop playing.  Often, I find Hidden Object games have objects that look nothing like they should making it nearly impossible to find them. Gourmania does not have this issue. The graphics are crisp and realistic and really add to the game.

I found Gourmania very fun and addictive and I found myself looking forward to replaying the more difficult levels.

Female Factor:  The player is the main character of the game. We never actually see this character. There are both male and female supporting characters and both are represented in the same way.

For $1.99, Gourmania is a steal.  Alawar also offers a Lite version at no cost. Both versions are available on the Apps Store.

Review product was provided by Flash Fire Communications on the behalf of Alawar Entertainment , and does not affect the outcome of this review.