Growing up I played all sorts of games and all sorts of different genres. One series of games I always played every now and then were the Mario Party games, and I enjoyed the mini-games they contained. I even played some other party games here and there, like the Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games titles, but those got boring after the first hour. When I saw Coatsink was releasing a game called Cake Bash, I just knew I had to see it just from the title- yep, the hungry man in me got hungry just from the title, but I still had to check out the game. After watching the trailer, I knew it was one I had to try out and play. It got me hooked and left my sweet tooth wanting more.
Developers High Tea From and publishers Coatsink have brought gamers a new party that everyone can enjoy from all ages. This little sweet, chaotic indie brings something to the table and recaptures that feeling of joy a fun party game can provide.
There is no real storyline, but the goal of Cake Bash is to make yourself as irresistible as possible. The player does so by being the top sweet in a four frantic four-player party games while trying to come out on top in each mini-game to earn the most coins as you use them to get toppings for your character. Those toppings give you points, and the player with the most points wins. However, you can earn negative points by getting a bad topping, like a fish skeleton, and these are acquired either from the trash can or the gumball machine that gives you random toppings.
There are two game modes in Cake Bash: Get Tasty and Recipe. There are also five bash modes with five maps, plus eight mini-games that you can play in single-player or multiplayer with three other people or AIs. The player can also unlock character skins and flavors.
When you first get into the game, you have an option to choose to do a mini-tutorial – and when I say mini, I mean it only takes a few minutes and tells you what the buttons do. You pick up objects with X, dash with circle, move around with the left joystick, hit an opponent with square, and if you hold square, you can do a power-up hit that makes the opponent dizzy for a few seconds and makes them lose the item they’re holding. Also, before each mini-game, there’s a note that comes up before it starts that tells the player what you have to do in it so the player will always know how to play said stage. The player can choose what kind of sweet they want to be: a cupcake, an eclair, a doughnut, a chocolate-dipped/covered cake, a double layered cake, a chocolate chip muffin, or a lemon cake. You can also choose what color you want to be as well.
When playing the camping stage, the player has to cook marshmallows. The better the toasted marshmallow is, the more points are earned. But do be aware that they tend to burn fast, so you do need to pay attention, or else you’ll end up with a burnt marshmallow and will not receive any points. My first time playing this stage, I wasn’t paying much attention to the marshmallows and ended up with 229 points. But that was my fault for trying to look at everything on the screen and take it all in. The player should focus on the marshmallows and nothing else, which I did my second time around and got a better score.
In another one of my favorite mini-games, the player has to pick up the most sweeties that they can. You can go around attacking and knocking other players around to make them lose their sweeties as everyone tries to steal everyone else’s. The player has to avoid falling objects, as well as other characters trying to knock you out and make you dizzy. That’s one of the big obstacles in Cake Bash, trying to not get knocked out because it wastes time as you have to sit and wait for the player’s dessert to recover while the other players/sweets are going at it picking up all the sweeties. But I think that’s what makes it fun, trying to avoid all the other sweets while running around picking up all the sweeties you can.
In Fruit Pie, you have to throw fruit into a pie. The player with the most fruit in the pie wins. This mini-game takes place on a patio where a pigeon lands in the area and attacks everyone at some point. It kind of makes it hard when throwing the fruits because the pigeon can knock them out of the player’s hands and even make you dizzy at times. I found myself yelling at my TV as I didn’t want the pigeon to come after me and attack my sweet. I can talk more about each mini-game, but I don’t want to spoil the rest of them, but know that each mini-game and level is unique in its own way and enjoyably fun.
What can I say about the graphics? Cake Bash‘s graphics are just mouthwateringly amazing. They are so vibrant and pleasant that they make me feel like I walked into a bakery surrounded by so many delicious sweets. Yes, I kept on getting hungry while playing Cake Bash and had to stop to get myself a dessert, and I could imagine a delicious bakery when I closed my eyes. I have to give a hand to Coatsink and High Tea Frog for making me hungry and craving something sweet many times while I was playing this game.
I have to say that I didn’t pay that much attention to the soundtrack because I was enjoying the gameplay so much, but I do like how when a mini-game is about to end, the music changes as the players start to hectically run around trying to score some last minute points.
I have to say, I’m having way more fun with Cash Bash than I thought I would. I knew I’d have fun and enjoy playing this sweet indie since I grew up playing Mario Party games, but it went beyond my expectations and completely blew me away. I found myself picking it up here and there after work to relax because there’s just something about sweets running around that made me happy – and yes, every chance I got, I made my character beat up and smack around the other sweets since it’s lots of fun. Even though I do have lots of favorite games, I can say that Cake Bash has become one of my favorite party games, and I would definitely recommend it to gamers of any age, those who are foodies and who like to cook, and even the casual person who likes to game every now and then.
Developer: High Tea Frog
Publisher: Coatsink
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, PC, Google Stadia (Nintendo Switch version coming later in 2020)
Release Date: 15th October 2020
