Coffee Pack

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1

.

Review:

Coffee Pack is a Puzzle Game released on mobile devices in 2023 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2024. In this game, players are given trays containing different types of coffee, and must place those trays on a board to organize the coffee into groups of six of the same kind, and upon doing so they are packed up and shipped off, clearing that part of the board.

The way organization in this game works is that when trays with the same type of coffee are placed adjacent to each other, they are reorganized so all the same kind are on as few trays as possible. In theory, this means that you could link a chain of multiple trays, and as long as each contains the same types of coffee, they’ll all sort themselves for you. However, any trays lacking a coffee type will break that chain of that type and block off other trays from joining in. I suppose this works out to have elements of Puyo Puyo and other color-matching Puzzle games, but really it’s not quite like anything else I’ve played.

This concept seems pretty simple, at first, to the point where the game almost seems to play itself. After all, when you only have two types of coffee to sort and lots of space to do it, it’s nearly impossible to mess up. However, the game gradually adds more coffee types, new board spaces with boxes that you need to clear matches next to in order to get rid of, and other challenges, giving this game a really good gradual increase in challenge.

I’ve gotta’ be honest, I was not expecting this game to be as compelling as it is. It is really satisfying to place the right tray in the right place to link together a bunch of mixed trays, clearing away what was previously a convoluted mess.

That’s not to say there aren’t issues here. When putting a chain of trays together, it’s not always consistent where the matching drinks will go, and sometimes they don’t go where you need them to go. Also, while the core gameplay here is excellent, this game absolutely fails to capitalize on it – apart from the level-based mode and a completely throwaway mode where you buy furniture to decorate a cafe using “coins” you won during gameplay, there’s not much here. No multiplayer, no Puzzle mode, no Endless mode, no Timed mode, nothing.

Also, I have to knock this game for its presentation. Yes, its mix of 2D and 3D elements is colorful and makes it easy to tell different drinks apart from each other, but there’s no animation (not even puffs of steam from hot drinks), and the game has a look that absolutely screams “this is a mobile game”. In keeping with this, this game uses cheerful but repetitive and extremely annoying music that you will want to mute immediately.

It’s a real shame that Coffee Pack wasn’t given the love and care it deserved to build it into the fully-fledged Puzzle game it could have been, as that would have had a ton of potential to be a truly great entry in the genre. As-is, it’s still a really enjoyable and relaxed Puzzle game that’s well worth playing, even if it’s limited by its lack of scope.

tl;dr – Coffee Pack is a Puzzle Game where players sort trays of coffee by placing mixed trays next to each other so drinks of the same kind can be rearranged to the same tray. It’s a surprisingly compelling and enjoyable experience, even if the presentation reeks of “mobile game”, and it’s severely limited by a lack of game modes and options. Even despite these flaws, I still think this is worth a look for Puzzle Game fans looking for something relaxed.

Grade: B-

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