ardentgailla
La Plata, MD

Nintendo whips up delicious success.

5 star rating

a girl, playstation player, Likes to be entertained
Pros

    Highly addictive, Music gives it a home-cooked meal feel, Try your hand at Japanese foods, Hundreds of things to do, Good fun at cheap price, Makes use of stylus and microphone

Cons
    Sometimes touch screen doesn't respond, Music cycles and may get annoying, All skills are trial and error based, Ketchup on spaghetti

FEB
8
2008
Nintendo has done my tummy good! Cooking Mama is a Japanese-based cooking game for the Nintendo DS. It incorporates many aspects of real-life cooking, but makes it safe fun you can have anywhere.

Starting up the game, you see a glimpse of the kitchen you'll be working in and a picture of Mama, looking proudly back at you. Don't be fooled by her sweet smile and cute bandana...She does have a bad side. The goal of the game is to not get on her bad side by cooking each meal according to Mama's standards. Tap start and you'll see the main menu. You have a choice to cook, combine, use skill, or go to the options.

Selecting Let's Cook will bring up a picture menu of the foods you can make. Tap whichever dish looks appealing and you'll have the chance to practice making it, actually making it, or changing your mind and choosing something else. Selecting Practice will allow you to start anywhere in the process of making that particular dish so that when it comes time to Make it, you will surely please Mama. If you've never played the game before, Practice definitely comes in handy, because you have the chance to figure out exactly what you should do to cook the meal "Better than Mama." Once you think you've got it, go back to the menu and try making it. All the steps are the same as in the practice, so no worries if you practiced hard, like Mama encourages.

To do well, you must follow directions, make minimal mistakes, and in most cases, finish before time is up. Mama will reward you accordingly with a bronze, silver, or gold medal. Try to get all gold medals! Whether or not you do well, you unlock new meals added to either your "Let's Cook" menu or your "Let's Combine" menu.

The "Let's Combine" menu is a list of dishes that you can combine with another dish. For example when you choose to make boiled rice, you have a choice of making potato salad, fried chicken, pan-fried vegetables, or other meals that you've already made or unlocked. When you combine foods, you don't have the option to practice, so make sure you're confident before combining.

The last aspect of the game is to use a skill. This gives you a chance to really see how good you are with each of the skills in the game. These skills range from adding ingredients to a bowl to folding dumplings. When you select a skill, you're given the instructions, and you're expected to follow them with no mistakes within the time limit (if there is one). Each test has multiple rounds that get harder until you've cleared it. Good luck!

While there is no multiplayer function, the closest would be to "Send Demo" from the options menu. You will only be able to send one recipe to a friend.



I_thumb_up Nintendo DS - Cooking Mama is recommended by ardentgailla

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I_comment_shdw24 Comments about ardentgailla’s Review

 


wellow wrote on Feb 10, 2008 at 5:12PM

Thanks for posting this review! I guess gonna have to get myself a Nintendo DS so I can see what this game is all about.

TheBard wrote on Feb 9, 2008 at 6:17PM

Excellent review! Welcome to ViewPoints, I hope to read more of your reviews.

Vincent

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