Cooking Mama

Mama wants to have some fun in the kitchen… if you know what we mean.

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Cooking Mama is one of those titles that I was hoping would one day come to America, and to my surprise, it’s here, courtesy of Majesco. In case you haven’t heard of Cooking Mama before, it’s a cooking simulator developed by Taito. Bet you didn’t see that one coming, huh? It’s a game where you actually prepare and cook meals via the touch screen on your Nintendo DS.

Ok, so we understand the premise of this game is about cooking, and apparently someone’s mother. So what does it take to be a proper Cooking Mama? I am glad you asked that question. First of all, Cooking Mama is more arcade than simulation. After all when are simulators really any fun? Especially since you can easily attempt the ‘real thing’ in an everyday kitchen. So don’t expect the need to have any real world knowledge of cooking. Cooking Mama will walk you through the steps of preparing ingredients, and making meals through two basic modes of game play: “Let’s Cook” and “Let’s Combine”.

The “Let’s Cook” mode is your standard game. You simply pick from a list of recipes and create the dish. As you progress, more dishes will be unlocked. Initially, the recipes will be a little on the simple side with more complex creations unlocked as you go. The “Let’s Combine” mode is almost exactly like “Let’s Cook” except you can combine dishes. Such as noodles and rice to create an all-new exciting dish of your own.

Both modes play out more like a typical mini game in structure. First you prepare your ingredients in various ways. Such as chopping vegetables, which in one case just had players rapidly tapping the screen. This may sound way too simple, but actually I find this simplicity entertaining. Then after that is done, you move into the process of actually preparing your meals. It’s just like the prep stage of the game and works in the same manner. Except with this you will be mixing in the base ingredients and cooking your meals. You can even blow on your food to cool it off, accomplished through the Nintendo DS built in microphone.

The visuals in Cooking Mama are on the lean side. A very basic presentation, and graphic style sets the mood for this cooking game. The top screen will show instructions, and cues to follow while the bottom screen will show ingredients, and various cooking implements like pans, and skillets.

The audio, like the previous is really on the light side of the equation. The sound effects of cooking are here, but hardly worth mentioning, and the music is just average at best. But what is here works, just don’t expect anything more than the bare essentials or you will be disappointed.

Cooking with Mama is fun!

Will it Make Mama Proud?
Cooking Mama so far is looking like a great title for players looking for something a little different in their games. The minigame like design has some depth, and combines a unique touch screen application to provide a very memorable experience. The graphics and audio departments maybe minimal at best, but the game has been out awhile in Japan, and likely was one of the first games Taito developed for the Nintendo DS.

— Stephen Smith