Many thanks for all the reads, rates and comments - all are appreciated. An accountant by day and a ...
Many thanks for all the reads, rates and comments - all are appreciated. An accountant by day and a random reviewer by night I am not a professional writer, nor do I have any ambitions to be I guess I am just opinionated.
Member since:07.03.2007
Reviews:247
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I asked my other half to rent me a copy of Cooking Guide so I was a bit surprised when she came home with this. I did question the choice the response was ?It?s got cooking in the title hasn?t it??. Since I had paid to rent it I thought I would give it a go, after all, I had little else to do that evening.
****What do you do?****
The aim of this game is to prepare a variety of meals in a step-by-step manner. Each stage is marked a fail, good or very good and once you have prepared the dish in full you are awarded a mark out of 100 and achieve a fail, bronze medal, silver medal or gold medal as appropriate.
That is all there is to it. There is no purpose or depth to this game.
****Controls****
This game fully utilises the touch screen and stylus of the DS. The stylus is the ?ultimate? cooking utensil of the Cooking Mama kitchen and as such it can slice, peel, chop, knead, stir, mix, de-scale, operate the blender, operate the oven and break eggs amongst many other things. It would be a utensil that Gordon Ramsey would be proud to own.
You are clearly
guided by an annoying cartoon character and instructions on the screen. As you are presented with the instruction you simply tap, scribble or swipe with the stylus. Suppose you are required to fry some meat. Instructions will slide by telling you when to increase and decrease the temperature of the hob, periodically shake the pan and flip the meat. There is also the requirement to blow in to the microphone occasionally to cool the food off.
The cooking process relies on quick movements and good timing which is actually quite good fun to begin with.
****Game modes****
There are three modes available being;
i) Cook
Cook mode involves preparing the meals and working your way through the mini game stages. You get awarded a mark out of 100, a grade and the appropriate medal once the dish is finished. Cooking existing dishes unlocks new ones, and with new dishes come new skills, like making sushi rice and barbequing.
In my opinion, the additional dishes are unlocked too easily. In most games you have to achieve a high standard to unlock the additional features. In this game all you need to do is attempt the basic dishes. You do not need to achieve a gold before others are unlocked. There is no incentive to really please Mama and cook to the best of your ability.
ii) Combine
In Combine mode, you mix two meals from a limited selection of meals from cook mode. Unlocking more meals in cook mode allows for more combinations. At the end of the combination dish you aren?t actually awarded a score or medal so it is not possible to keep track of your progress, which defeats the objective of the game.
iii) Skill
Skills mode gives you the chance to show mama just how good you are with your kitchen ?wonder tool? at a range of different skills. Such skills include chopping or de-scaling fish. Some of the skills have a set number of tasks to be awarded a bronze, silver or gold whereas others just require you to do as many as you can in the set time.
****Graphics****
The graphics are sharp and colourful. They are great which is to be expected given the processing capabilities of the DS. The food is realistic looking (in a cartoony sort of way) and Mama is a Manga styled cartoon character, whose eyes ?fires up? when you do not get the dish correct.
****Sound****
Like the game, the audio is simple, clear and concise. It compliments the cartoon graphics perfectly. The way in which the mentor yells ?Don?t worry, Mama will fix it? is annoying mainly because you know that you have messed up and it is said in such a sarcastic manner.
****My opinion****
The graphics and sound really go well together and adds to a good gaming experience.
Despite there being no story line or sense of purpose and it lacking depth I actually found this game really good fun to play and very addictive. I found that I was going from dish to dish trying to get a better mark each time.
I also found that when I messed up a certain stage and Mama had to ?fix it? I got quite outraged and vowed to get better at that task in the next dish it was required.
With this ?must do better next time? attitude I found that I was racing through the mini games and since there are only 76 separate dishes I completed it quite quickly. By the end of the game I found that had mastered all the different techniques in the game so I went back to the dishes where I didn?t get a gold medal and repeated them until I got gold for every single dish.
Whilst fun to play, this is a very easy game and seasoned gamers will get bored of it very quickly. It may be worth a go though.
Due to the simplicity this is a game that is suitable for all ages and my five year old nephew loves it. It is simple enough for him to do everything himself, whilst not to gold standard. I think that it is a great game for young players as it improves their hand eye co-ordination as well as assists with their reading skills.
Whilst you are preparing a whole range of exotic dishes including starters, main courses and deserts this game will not improve real life cooking skills at all. Nor will it give budding chefs any meal ideas, which was the whole reason I asked my other half to get Cooking Guide.
(Originally posted on Dooyoo under the name of Yackers1)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
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Advantages: Fun concept, would appeal to the fans of the Cooking Mama series Disadvantages: Mini games a bit repetitive and the controls can be awkward
very helpful by (100%):
