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review :: cooking mama
Cooking Mama
Reviewed on: Available on:
Cooking Mama is a fun collection of cooking mini-games, but the truth is that Cooking Mama probably won’t teach you much about cooking at all.
I love cooking. Or rather, I love hosting parties and entertaining, making huge platters of fresh fruits, chocolates, crackers and cheese, cakes and slices. Mmm… And then there’s the main meal, with a stuffed and seasoned roast chicken, served with crispy-skinned roast potato, sweet potato, pumpkin, delicious gravy and steamed vegetables.
That’s all great for special occasions, but when it comes to cooking regular meals on a daily basis, that’s where I seem to fail in my domestic duties. I think it’s due to the lack of inspiration and being distracted by other more enjoyable activities, like playing (or making) games. So I was wondering if Cooking Mama could help with that little problem. I mean… cooking is generally fun and so is playing games, so it has to be a great combination. Especially when it’s played on the DS – because other than the Wii, what platform is better suited to slicing and dicing, stirring and frying?
I’ve been excited about the release of Cooking Mama ever since I stumbled upon this video. I was doing some research into a social MMO that would appeal to females and naturally, it made me ask a few more questions, like “What do women want in a video game?” and more specifically “Can domestic activities be translated into a successful game?”
Unfortunately, at the time, Cooking Mama was only available in Japanese. But even before getting a chance to play it, it’s clear that it must have done something right – because not all games in the Japanese market make it across to our sunny shores. And now, with Cooking Mama in English (and with a copy in my hands) I can finally investigate!
The first thing I wanted to find out was if playing a game about becoming a master chef could help improve my cooking skills in real life. But this morning, I burnt my toast, so right now, I’d settle for being a novice.
Cooking Mama is a collection of cooking mini-games. It has a heap of recipes, each with several steps that will have you chopping, stewing, peeling, grating, frying, tenderizing, grilling and skewering your food.
The main game features a Make mode, in which you’ll be scored for your performance, as well as a Practice mode, which allows you to train yourself on any single task in the recipe (very handy, especially for beginners). There are no real tutorials when you first start playing the game, so I recommend trying out the Practice mode. That’s kinda how I learnt to play, but after a few recipes, I’d started to get the hang of it and I haven’t touched it since.
There’s this game mode that allows you to combine two recipes and create a new one. It sounds nifty and creative, but to be honest, this one hasn’t really appealed to me. Instead of creating a new appropriate graphic, it just recycles the originals, overlaying one picture on top of the other. Also, you make some really weird combinations, like spaghetti Neapolitan with sweet tofu sushi – weird. But the main reason this mode is boring, is because it’s basically cooking the same meals – only in tandem this time round.
That said, Cooking Mama does have a great lifespan - there’s a significant amount of recipes and I haven’t sat down and counted them all, but there’s been enough to keep me entertained for hours. Most of them are Asian dishes, which is great for learning new meals, if you can understand what they are - I mean, I’d never even heard of Soba before. And even after cooking it, I still don’t know what it is. It would be good to have a few more recipes from other cultures too. Maybe they could release a Cooking Mama: Italian or Cooking Mama: Thai – now that’d be yummy.
So what about presentation? It’s very girlish, cartoonish and pink – I’m sold! And the sound effects are delicious! Chopping, crunching, sizzling… even just thinking about them makes me drool. The music itself, while initially charming, does become a bit too repetitious. I mean, it’s like the same song… for the entire duration of the game.
Cooking Mama is a very simple game – you can pick it up and play with ease, though it might take a bit of practice before you master all the skills. But once you know how to play, there’s really no challenge – still, unlocking new recipes is fun. That’s a feature that gives the game a good lifespan, though I wouldn’t really make the same recipe twice – it’s more interesting for me personally, to see new content rather than replay a recipe just to master it.
Yet I know there are others out there who like to clock the game completely and if you’re one of them then you’ll definitely find more value in this game. Unfortunately, there isn’t any multiplayer support. You can send a demo to a friend near by, but that’s about as far as it goes. It’s a shame too; I’d love to be able to challenge friends to a cook-off.
What sets Cooking Mama apart from all the other games out there? Well, I think it’s definitely something different, being very domestic. It will appeal to females and can be played by gamers of any age. For what it is, Cooking Mama does a great job at being a lighthearted series of cooking mini-games so if you’re looking for some casual fun, you should try this game out.
And did it help me improve my cooking?
As you may already have guess, the answer is no, not really. I mean, I did try to cook some meatballs for the first time, in the same way that the recipe told me, but there was a lot of missing information, like measurements. Well, I may have burned my toast, but I can cook a decent meal, so I figured them out by myself. And the end result? My balls were delicious! Want to see them?
Okay, so I’m not going to be the next Iron Chef, but the truth is that Cooking Mama probably won’t teach you much about cooking at all. I don’t recommend anyone taking the recipes seriously (and if you do, make sure you send me some photos) but if you’re looking for some casual DS fun, then this might be the game for you.
That’s all great for special occasions, but when it comes to cooking regular meals on a daily basis, that’s where I seem to fail in my domestic duties. I think it’s due to the lack of inspiration and being distracted by other more enjoyable activities, like playing (or making) games. So I was wondering if Cooking Mama could help with that little problem. I mean… cooking is generally fun and so is playing games, so it has to be a great combination. Especially when it’s played on the DS – because other than the Wii, what platform is better suited to slicing and dicing, stirring and frying?
I’ve been excited about the release of Cooking Mama ever since I stumbled upon this video. I was doing some research into a social MMO that would appeal to females and naturally, it made me ask a few more questions, like “What do women want in a video game?” and more specifically “Can domestic activities be translated into a successful game?”
Unfortunately, at the time, Cooking Mama was only available in Japanese. But even before getting a chance to play it, it’s clear that it must have done something right – because not all games in the Japanese market make it across to our sunny shores. And now, with Cooking Mama in English (and with a copy in my hands) I can finally investigate!
The first thing I wanted to find out was if playing a game about becoming a master chef could help improve my cooking skills in real life. But this morning, I burnt my toast, so right now, I’d settle for being a novice.
Cooking Mama is a collection of cooking mini-games. It has a heap of recipes, each with several steps that will have you chopping, stewing, peeling, grating, frying, tenderizing, grilling and skewering your food.
The main game features a Make mode, in which you’ll be scored for your performance, as well as a Practice mode, which allows you to train yourself on any single task in the recipe (very handy, especially for beginners). There are no real tutorials when you first start playing the game, so I recommend trying out the Practice mode. That’s kinda how I learnt to play, but after a few recipes, I’d started to get the hang of it and I haven’t touched it since.
There’s this game mode that allows you to combine two recipes and create a new one. It sounds nifty and creative, but to be honest, this one hasn’t really appealed to me. Instead of creating a new appropriate graphic, it just recycles the originals, overlaying one picture on top of the other. Also, you make some really weird combinations, like spaghetti Neapolitan with sweet tofu sushi – weird. But the main reason this mode is boring, is because it’s basically cooking the same meals – only in tandem this time round.
That said, Cooking Mama does have a great lifespan - there’s a significant amount of recipes and I haven’t sat down and counted them all, but there’s been enough to keep me entertained for hours. Most of them are Asian dishes, which is great for learning new meals, if you can understand what they are - I mean, I’d never even heard of Soba before. And even after cooking it, I still don’t know what it is. It would be good to have a few more recipes from other cultures too. Maybe they could release a Cooking Mama: Italian or Cooking Mama: Thai – now that’d be yummy.
So what about presentation? It’s very girlish, cartoonish and pink – I’m sold! And the sound effects are delicious! Chopping, crunching, sizzling… even just thinking about them makes me drool. The music itself, while initially charming, does become a bit too repetitious. I mean, it’s like the same song… for the entire duration of the game.
Cooking Mama is a very simple game – you can pick it up and play with ease, though it might take a bit of practice before you master all the skills. But once you know how to play, there’s really no challenge – still, unlocking new recipes is fun. That’s a feature that gives the game a good lifespan, though I wouldn’t really make the same recipe twice – it’s more interesting for me personally, to see new content rather than replay a recipe just to master it.
Yet I know there are others out there who like to clock the game completely and if you’re one of them then you’ll definitely find more value in this game. Unfortunately, there isn’t any multiplayer support. You can send a demo to a friend near by, but that’s about as far as it goes. It’s a shame too; I’d love to be able to challenge friends to a cook-off.
What sets Cooking Mama apart from all the other games out there? Well, I think it’s definitely something different, being very domestic. It will appeal to females and can be played by gamers of any age. For what it is, Cooking Mama does a great job at being a lighthearted series of cooking mini-games so if you’re looking for some casual fun, you should try this game out.
And did it help me improve my cooking?
As you may already have guess, the answer is no, not really. I mean, I did try to cook some meatballs for the first time, in the same way that the recipe told me, but there was a lot of missing information, like measurements. Well, I may have burned my toast, but I can cook a decent meal, so I figured them out by myself. And the end result? My balls were delicious! Want to see them?
Okay, so I’m not going to be the next Iron Chef, but the truth is that Cooking Mama probably won’t teach you much about cooking at all. I don’t recommend anyone taking the recipes seriously (and if you do, make sure you send me some photos) but if you’re looking for some casual DS fun, then this might be the game for you.
Final Verdict
Cooking Mama is a fun collection of cooking mini-games and has a colorful, happy presentation. Buy this game if you’re looking for casual gameplay - or even if you manage to pick it up cheap. Don’t buy it if you’re looking for any real depth or if you hope it’ll teach you to cook.Pros
Lots of recipes to cook, fun stylus-based mini-games, nice sound effects, and colorful graphics.
Cons
No multiplayer, repetitive music and it won’t really make you a master chef ;)
