In Burger Joint, you play Johnny, a sixteen-year-old kid who finds a job in a fast food restaurant. But this is no ordinary restaurant; it's BJ's Fast Food Restaurant, the very first fast food ever. Set in the 50's, Burger Joint captures the atmosphere of the era without even leaving the restaurant. The music, some taken from Grease, some from 50's bands, is scattered all throughout the game and succeeds in signaling events, creating a mood, and by playing music for different characters; it further develops the characters and story. There's no lack of music, either. Madguy has been known for good music over his career. and this game may well be the capstone.
Burger Joint takes place entirely within the restaurant. Even the title screen is a picture of the restaurant. Gameplay varies, involving doing things asked of you, which is not that hard, or improvising ways of solving problems that occur either to the people or the machines of the restaurant. The problems themselves merely involve touching objects, but the relationship objects have to each other and patrons of the restaurant must be remembered in order to solve a particular puzzle. Actions must also be performed within a certain time limit, such as cleaning the place up before the first customer arrives.
Graphics are hard to judge with only one scene to work with, but for this game, all you need in terms of graphics are visuals that aren't ugly and objects that can easily be identified. The colours chosen work well, and nothing is visually distracting, which means you can concentrate on having fun.
The writing is one of the game's strongest points. The characters are well developed and the humour draws not from random jokes, but character driven narrative. Interactions between strong figures in the story allow for jokes that don't seem "out of the blue". The actual story is secondary to the way the characters interact. Sure there is a beginning, a climax, and a conclusion, but what's more important is that your character survived the day. When you feel like you want a little smiling ASCII character to succeed in life you're either a loser, or you're playing a really good game.
Whilst your time while playing the game is sometimes spent frantically touching everything possible, the humour, story, and your curiosity to see what will happen next, will make you play this game from beginning to end. As far as replay value goes, the humour is the only thing that would make you come back to it; still, it's one of those games you download and add to your permanent collection.
