Review: Snack Mania - At the Theaters

Now Playing: The Same Ol' Time-Management Experience.

Picture this. You're at the premiere of that really big movie everyone's been jawing about for months. You arrive at the theatre five minutes before the film's set to begin. You're cutting it close, but you decide to get some snacks before you sit down. Alas, the line is long. Worse, there's a single clerk stationed at the concessions counter, and she's so harried, that she's totally messed up your order. Burnt popcorn! A hotdog without relish! Flat pop! Do you rage and throw it all back in her face? No. You play a bit of Snack Mania – At the Theaters and develop a little sympathy for the snack vendors of the world.

Snack Mania – At the Theaters is a time-management game that puts you behind the (probably sticky) counter of a movie theater's concession stand. There are hundreds of hungry customers to contend with, but only one of you. Man, these corporate cutbacks are getting ridiculous.

Snack Mania – At the Theaters plays like most other time-management games, so if you're familiar with the genre, you'll have seen this film before. You stand behind the counter as customers slide in and demand snacks. Things start off slow and easy: at first, all you really have to offer are hot dogs that need to be garnished with ketchup or mustard, depending on your customers' demands. But as you continue to play, the orders become more complicated. Soon enough, your clientele will begin ordering popcorn, double hot dogs, drinks, chocolate, and candy. Man, where are they putting it all?

You need to serve up the goods swiftly and correctly. You flip between available foods by tapping on icons, which means your sense of timing needs to be razor-sharp. If, for example, you put hot dogs on the grill and then switch to the popcorn popper, you need to know when it's time to flip back to the hot dogs and take them off the grill before they turn into piles of ash. You also need to serve up the popcorn before it burns, and get your customers' orders down pat. If a movie-goer wants ketchup on his hot dog and you hand him a wiener with relish, there will be hell to pay.

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