Each day I spent working at McDonald's was worse than the day before; a never-ending cycle of despondency rendering my frequent complaints - "this is the worst day of my life!" - as accurate as they were sincere. Anarchy, suicide, escaping unnoticed - these thoughts bounced around my numbingly deep-fried mind on a daily basis in that smelly, grease-laden McPrison. But if working in food service was even remotely as enjoyable as playing Order Up! then I might have passed on the whole "career thing" to continue chopping onions and flipping burgers.

Developed by SuperVillain Studios (the folks behind the PS3's flow and the PS2's Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam), Order Up! is a cooking game that at its core is similar to Majesco's popular Cooking Mama series. Surprisingly however, SuperVillain's culinary creation offers a much deeper, intense and infinitely more rewarding experience; while Cooking Mama simply focuses on preparing meals, Order Up! embraces cooking simulation on a much larger scale.

You assume the role of a struggling and talented chef with little more than hopes, dreams and a spatula. After literally landing on bustling Port Abello, an island famous for its superior culinary caliber, you immediately find work - ugh, memories! - at a local burger joint filled with acne-faced managers and puddles of mysterious burger sludge. These greasy floors are the starting point for your journey from no-name McSlave to accomplished chef extraordinaire. To get there, though, you will have to master cooking techniques, learn new recipes and essentially monopolize the Port Abello restaurant industry; in addition to being a chef, you are also an ambitious restauranteur bent on buying as many establishments as possible. You will own and operate a classic diner, a Mexican eatery and even the upscale Chez Haute before the credits roll and it's your job to improve each business, hire soux-chefs, please the stringent health inspector and earn a prestigious five-star rating from the finicky food critic, all the while preparing incoming food orders with dual emphasis on speed and quality.

Upon starting the game you immediately feel the pressure of a bustling kitchen environment, Order Up!'s most unique and enjoyable attribute. As groups of customers enter simultaneously, you have to delegate responsibilities - each distinguished soux-chef has a specialized talent - and learn to multitask. While those steaks are grilling, for example, you had better start dicing tomatoes and mashing potatoes or meals will get cold, customers will become unhappy and, most importantly, tips will decrease. Your soux-chefs shout as those burgers you forgot about start to burn and the macaroni begins to boil, while more hungry customers walk in and find a table. Oh, and be careful about throwing away too many improperly cooked meals, or rats will infest your kitchen and scare away your customers, a veritable deathblow for an establishment with such a budding reputation among local culinary connoisseurs.

Order Up! genuinely captures the essence of busy food service, strips away the unpleasantness - disgusting grease, pushy bosses, working weekends - and marinates it with addictive, frantic and undeniably fun gameplay. Many developers have failed to utilize Wii motion controls in an enjoyable and intuitive way but, much to its credit, SuperVillain has succeeded - for the most part. Just about everything you do in the kitchen relies on motion controls and, at their best, they're very responsive and intuitive. You chop, dice and sauté just as you would imagine with the Wiimote, as the necessary gestures mimic reality. It works well most of the time and actually benefits the gameplay instead of detracting from it, a sign of any good Wii game. However, not all the motion controls are implemented perfectly and struggling with certain gestures - like folding a tortilla, for example - amidst mounting orders and ticking timers can be an extremely frustrating experience.

Order Up! can be played with a single Wiimote but the Nunchuk attachment makes the optional control scheme the better one. Because the Wiimote's ergonomically inept directional pad and minus button figure largely into everyday kitchen duties, you will consistently be forced into awkward thumb stretching, a problem easily solved by attaching the Nunchuk and substituting its analog stick and Z Button respectively. This feels more natural and provides a control experience not dissimilar to that utilized in Atlus' acclaimed Trauma Center series, which is most certainly a compliment.

Order Up! features several situational mini-games, some of which showcase its weakest motion controls, unfortunately. In the farmer's market, for example, you cannot buy certain spices without successfully completing a pepper-chopping mini-game. Your spice-guru sensei tosses red peppers into the air and you are prompted to make slashing gestures with the Wiimote; unless your timing and swings are literally perfect you will continually fail the most frustrating part of Order Up! and will be unable to prepare some of the game's spiciest and highest-tipping dishes for your customers.

There are other drawbacks preventing Order Up! from premier status as a featured menu item on Wii, most notably the fact that it's a strict single player experience and a short one at that; there is no local or online multiplayer and the absence of such modes in a that's game so focused on frantic gameplay and delegating responsibilities - imagine balancing kitchen duties with a friend - is extremely disappointing. The only available option to complement the single player mode is Quick Play, a limited mode for players looking to brush up on their cooking skills without embarking on the full adventure. Unfortunately, this is the extent of the modes on offer.

As with most Wii games, the graphics also leave a sour aftertaste. Order Up! boasts a colorful cel-shaded visual style that's clearly meant to resemble a cartoon in motion. This is suggested not only by the graphics themselves but also by the distinct camerawork during cut scenes and the character design. Order Up! looks pleasant but there is simply no denying that a five-year-old game utilizing a similar aesthetic - Nintendo's own Wind Waker, anyone? - managed to look sharper, more vibrant and more charming on a last-generation platform than Order Up! does on Wii. There is something to be said for style, certainly, but the pervasive notion that Wii games can be released to market with minimal visual effort should be mashed like guacamole. Order Up! should look much better than it does. These complaints are admittedly minor, though, considering how compelled I have found myself to continue playing.

Order Up! is an inexplicably fun affair and gamers with an uncalloused heart will find it difficult to resist its addictive nature and endearing charm. The suggested retail price of $39.99 is a bit steep for a game with limited modes and a short single player mode, but Order Up! is still a satisfying and addictive Wii experience with a surprisingly rewarding premise that cooking game aficionados should not miss. If only my former McBosses could see me now, chopping carrots with unrivaled precision and buying entire restaurants on a whim. Maybe they wouldn't have fired me. Then again, maybe they would have; Ronald McDonald frowns upon anarchic thoughts.

Reviewed by Derek D. Buck for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).