Cooking Mama Review

Game - Cooking Mama
System - Nintendo DS
Developer - Office Create
Publisher - 505 Games (Europe)
Genre - Simulation/Minigames
Players - 1
WiFi - No

Cooking Mama is a cooking simulation game where you can cook various dishes by using the stylus and touch screen, now you have the power to become a master chef in the palm of your hand!

*Drools*

Gameplay

In Cooking Mama you will pick a meal that you would like to prepare, there are over 80 different dishes to choose from, once you have decided on what you want to cook ‘Mama’ will help you by giving you on screen instructions on what to do to prepare your meal, there are normally around 5-6 stages to complete before your meal is complete. Using the stylus and touch screen you can cut up, knead, roll and mix food, also using the microphone you can blow and cool food down. However that’s really all the controls there are and they can be a tad unresponsive at times, not good since you are against the clock!
Aside from just preparing foods, you can combine two meals together to make something so heavenly it will make you cry with joy! And if you feel up to it, Mama will test your cooking skill and see how much you improve over the weeks! However I do feel the gameplay gets a bit repetitive after a while as you are basically doing the same things over and over again despite the meal you are making…

Run Away! That Was Her Dinner!

Graphics

OK, everything is in 2D and has been drawn like a cartoon, not that it is a bad thing though, I liked the vibrant and colourful atmosphere Cooking Mama displays, Mama has her funny little animations if you cook a meal perfectly (Sparkling eyes), OK (Stays kind of the same), or fail miserably (Devil Mama!) I can say that Cooking Mama will draw in small children with its vibrant child-like graphics, which is good because that is who the game is targeted at!

Mind The Fingers!

Sound/Music

One of the things that is bad about Cooking Mama are the sounds, you hear the same song playing while you are cooking over and over again, not to mention the song is very annoying
Other than the annoying music you have the sound of utensils hard at work preparing gourmet food, most of them sound the same though which is a big let down on the developers part…..

Give Yourself A Pat On The Back!

Replay Value

Over 80 different recipes to cook from exotic locations from around the world (yet no great Scottish haggis!) Cooking Mama will keep you occupied for hours, that is if you don’t get bored from the repetitive gameplay and end up breaking your DS after listening to the same song for the 50th time! And the fact that you can send a demo to your pal through DS Download Play is always a good thing, one problem with the demo for me though was that it was completely in German and I couldn‘t understand anything!

Conclusion

This spicy chicken is quite bland, and the same goes for Cooking Mama, it is a good game but it seems to be lacking in some areas, however it is a great game that will appeal to casual gamers for its simple but fun gameplay and colourful graphics!


Scores

Gameplay - 7/10 - The gameplay is tasty, but it is repetitive!
Graphics - 8/10 - Mmmmm.. Colourful…..
Sounds - 2/10 - If they eat their veggies they will get it right!
Replay Value - 6/10 - Just like granny used to make….

Final Score
7/10
Tastebud Tickling