Video Game Review: Diner Dash: Flo on the Go

If you've seen Diner Dash: Flo on the Go on the list of games to download at Yahoo! or Pogo.com but not wanted to throw down $20 to try it out, here's your chance to see what the game is like before you buy.

For those unfamiliar with the Diner Dash series of games, the player takes on the role of Flo, a chipper girl with a deep love of waitressing. Flo is the perfect waitress, never frustrated. The level of service that the Diner Dash customers receive, though, is in the hands of the player.

Diner Dash: Flo on the Go's customers come in a variety of different levels of patience. Some of the customers are difficult and demanding; other's may be patient but may bother neighboring tables. Diner Dash players seat the customers, then guide Flo through taking their order, bringing their food, getting them a handful of necessities, handing over the check and clearing the table for the next customer.

In Diner Dash: Flo on the Go, we find Flo attempting to take a well-deserved vacation, but failing miserably. The unfortunately accident prone waitress has a tendency to lose her luggage. Her plan is, of course, to waitress on her trips to gain the money for new clothes.

Flo begins her journey on a cruise ship, where they are only too happy to allow her to waitress. From there she moves on to a train, a submarine, a blimp, and finally a rocket ship. Each of the levels in Diner Dash: Flo on the Go naturally increases in difficulty.

In each round, Flo has a goal, a certain amount of money she wants to make waitressing. Beyond Flo's goal Diner Dash players have the chance to reach a second goal, labeling Flo as an expert. Rounds can be replayed as many times as the player wants. Try to make Flo an expert on each round of a location to unlock a special bonus.

As Flo reaches her goals, she receives new clothes to replace her lost luggage. Diner Dash players can select Flo's outfit themselves or press a button to randomly select a combination. Also, in each location Diner Dash players get to choose various upgrades to make the location a little nicer.

The alternative to playing through the rounds (called 'Story Mode' in Diner Dash) is to play an Endless Shift. In Diner Dash: Flo on the Go, the player can have their Endless Shift in any of the five locations. The customer flow starts off slow and increases, bringing with it more challenging customers and lowered patience from the customers.

The player guides Flo through her waitressing duties until 5 sets of customers are lost. Flo's next goal shows in the top right hand corner of the screen. Once the player has helped Flo earn that much money, an 'Upgrades' button appears in the top left.

The player again gets to choose the upgrades. In the Endless Shift, though, upgrades don't just make the place look nice. Each chance to upgrade offers three choices to make Flo's job a little easier, such as more tables, music to soothe the customers, and energy bars to make Flo go just a bit faster.

The Endless Shift mode of Diner Dash: Flo on the Go doesn't follow a set pattern. Each time you play, the customer flow is a little different and the order in which upgrades are offered varies a bit.

With so many possibilities, Diner Dash: Flo on the Go is easily worth the cost. It's only fair to warn that it can be somewhat addictive. It's hard to quit when Flo keeps ending up only $50 short of Expert, and the Endless Shift offers plenty of fun any time.