I love a game that approaches fighting and combat from an unorthodox angle, and Battle Chef Brigade delivers that in spades as you compete in cooking in a blend of combat and puzzle mechanics. The game looks great and the story is endearing without overstaying its welcome—however, the gameplay reaches a 'solved' state pretty easily, in that the methodology to get a perfect score becomes apparent once you futz around with the mechanics enough. Your opponents also feel a little lacking as a mechanic in that you don't interact with them in the match, which feels like a missed opportunity to incorporate more competition—although it's a take on Iron Chef, a little Cutthroat Kitchen wouldn't have hurt.

Shoukugeki no Soma the Game except I actually finished it.

Really fun and interactive puzzle fighting gameplay that encourages good strategy for each cook off.
Fun story and characters.

Easy recommendation.

First off, I am in love with the art style in this game. The character and monster designs are crafted with care. Gorgeous illustrations throughout the game and the expressions add charm. The sound is great; close to fully voice acted? All the voices sounded amazing. The music was great and upbeat.

The story does take a turn in the second (?) chapter which thankfully keeps the game from getting too stagnant. It was odd switching perspectives toward the end of the game. It felt unnecessary, like padding to make the game seem longer. It didn't really anything new during that chapter. It would have been better to either focus on the main character or add more to that other perspective earlier in the game.

Imported from my Backloggery:

This game is definitely my favorite of 2017. Though it may not be for everyone, the gameplay is simple and tight, yet surprisingly deep and challenging. On the story end, all of the characters are lovable and well designed. Though there is conflict in the plot, it never gets so caught up in the negative to ever stop being pleasant and lighthearted. My only issues are the poor combat animations and the sometimes generic art style. This game never stops being pleasant and happy.

Reminiscent of games I'd lose multiple afternoons to back on Newgrounds as a teen. This would've been enough to win me over alone but the general charm of the game helped too.

I wish there was a bit more depth to things like the scoring system as it didn't seem to reward or leave a ton of room for creativity in your cooking. There were times where I'd try to go all out with focus on one of the preferred flavor profiles and I'd get the same score boost as the AI who used a mixed bag. The systems as they are though were fun to experiment with and I would love to see them expanded on.

Elsewhere some of the stuff like the combat wasn't the greatest and chapter 5 is a pacing killer but it's a good start. I think there's a fantastic base here to build off of with a sequel and will be keeping an eye out.