ChefVille Aftertaste: ChefVille Express should be the next big thing

Let's set up a scenario: You'e on the way to work or school, using public transportation or carpooling, and you suddenly realize that you forgot to tend your crops in FarmVille or CityVille. There's no way that you'll be able to login to the game on a traditional computer before they wither, so you pull out your trusty smartphone and use FarmVille Express or CityVille Express to tend them on the go, saving the day (and your hard-earned coins). These two Express "programs" are some of the best things that have ever happened to dedicated Facebook gamers, as we can continue to play these games even while on the go, when we're not able to play in the "normal" way. That being the case, it's shocking that more

games in Zynga's catalog don't offer this Express compatibility, and if there's one game that could benefit from such a release, it's ChefVille.

With each individual dish in ChefVille having different ingredient requirements and cooking timers, there's a need for players to constantly monitor their games so that fast cooking dishes don't wither and that long-cooking dishes are served to free up appliances for additional jobs. Since the average player can't sit at the computer for 24 hours a day, this leaves them to make progress slowly, as they'll need to strategize which dishes to cook and when depending on their schedules. With the ability to tend our dishes and ingredient stalls on the go, however, we'd be able to enjoy more freedom within the game, as we could set dishes to cook and immediately leave the computer, knowing that we could always access them at a moment's notice on our phones.

Furthermore, the game would become much more social with a launch of ChefVille Express. In the game's current state, you'll need to be logged into Facebook on a computer to click on your friends' news posts, claiming items for yourself and helping friends at the same time. If you try to click on one of these news feed posts via Facebook on your phone, you'll receive an error message and will simply miss out. When it comes to FarmVille Express, as an example, this isn't an issue, as players can look at their Facebook news feed on their phones, click on a wall post and will receive the item in question within seconds, all without heading back to a desktop computer. If this became available in ChefVille, we'd be able to help friends with building projects and claim rare ingredients while away from the computer, before the news posts are expired.

The development of ChefVille Express may be wishful thinking, but it's a dream I dare to have for all of the good it can do for the game. If you feel so too, make sure to let us know about it and perhaps Zynga will develop ChefVille Express after all.

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Would you use ChefVille Express on your smartphone of choice if Zynga developed it? Sound off in the comments!