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DS | Simulation | Cooking Mama

Publisher: Majesco
Developer: Taito
Release Date: 09/12/2006
Genre: Simulation
Number of Players:
ESRB Rating: Everyone
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20 screen shots

GRAPHICS: 3.50
SOUND: 3.25
CONTROL: 4.00
FUN FACTOR 4.00
AVG USER SCORE 2.5
AVG CRITIC SCORE 3.8

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Review: Cooking Mama

Review by Tae Kim | 09/12/2006 | 17:41:58 PM PST

Novice chefs and seasoned gourmands take note: Cooking Mama is one scrumptous dish. Chopping onions has never been sweeter!

(Check out Ahoy_and_Avast's blog for more thoughts on Cooking Mama)

Though we all need and love food, very few of us actually like to cook it. This is why we all love to eat out: all the work is done for you. But there is a certain joy inherent in cooking your own meals--food that you prepared yourself is somehow more satisfying than store-bought--and it's this sense of homemade goodness that makes Cooking Mama such a delectable, gourmet treat for both gamers and foodies alike.

The menu is extensive and tasty.

Mise En Place

The true genius of Cooking Mama lies in its near-flawless control scheme: players use the stylus to do everything from chopping vegetables to stirring soups to flipping meat on the grill. It's all brilliantly done and implemented and novice chefs will soon be whipping up the meals without a hitch. Players choose which recipe they want to prepare and then play through each step of the process through a series of timed mini-games.

For instance, in order to prepare a pork cutlet, you have to first tenderize the meat (by whacking it repeatedly with a virtual mallet), remove the tendon (by memorizing where to cut with your virtual knife), roll the cutlets in flour and egg and breadcrumbs (by tapping and rolling the stylus on the screen), drop them into hot oil and retrieve them when they're done (a process that, like real life, requires patience and timing), then plate them up for final presentation.

It may sound like a lot of work but the individual tasks are blissfully short and play out in mere seconds, much like a WarioWare mini-game. Your performance is graded after every task, with a Very Good netting you a gold medal, a Good performance netting you a silver and a Bad netting you a bronze along with a humorous depiction of the titular Mama character's anime-inspired displeasure. You are then presented with an overall score after the dish is fully cooked and ready to eat.