I’m a sucker
for games like Diner Dash, Sally’s Salon and even Burger Island
that are fun in quick bursts when you want to kill some time whether it’s on
your PC or – even better – your Nintendo DS. Let’s face it, these games were
made for a handheld with touch-screen capabilities but seldom are they good for
long stretches of gaming goodness. Cake Mania 3 is the third game in the
series but it does very little to keep the fun going before you realize that it
just gets way too repetitive.
Let them
eat cake
There’s a
story, of sorts, linked with Cake Mania 3 that still involves the
charismatic pastry chef and cater extraordinaire named Jill Evans. Jill has
served up many a scrumptious cake to many a cake hungry crowd but this time she
is serving up a variety of cakes for love. You see, on the morning before her
big wedding, a portal between time and space opens and swallows a handful of her
guests. Jill jumps through the portal to rescue them, traveling between time
periods to not only save her guests but also bake and serve cakes as well.
Forget how she managed to take a coffeemaker and oven with her but Jill is once
again serving her cakes.
In the
game’s main mode, you jump into the portal where you can select different time
periods when they become available to you. Your first stop is ancient China at
the height of a Dynasty that appreciates the culinary arts. In order to get your
first guest out of the time period, Jill decides to work in a pastry shop where
she takes orders, bakes the cakes and serves her customers. From there the game
moves to different times such as France during the French Revolution, ancient
Egypt, medieval England and even several thousand years into the future.
The object
of the game is still the same and very little has changed as how you get the job
done. A customer walks into the bakery, looks through the menu you hand them and
you bake the type of cake they order with the preferred icing and hand it to the
customer before they get impatient. The more you play the more customers come
filing in looking to make an order.
Rise of
the cake maker
Using the
Stylus, you move Jill round the kitchen where the oven is located as well as the
froster and later the decorator. Starting with the customer’s orders, you start
baking the type of cake and then add the frosting color they asked for and then
wrap up the cake for the customers. The problem is that baking, naturally, takes
awhile and so does frosting. The more you delay the more the customer becomes
too impatient that they stop waiting or leave the line. Each level has a certain
sales quota you must mean so that means the more happy customers that walk away
with a cake the more extra cash you make to buy helpful upgrades such as a
Treatmaster (to offer a sweet for waiting customers) as well as better ovens.
Unfortunately, the game doesn’t really change much even with the different
timelines and locales. Just about the only thing that changes in the course of
playing the game are the types of customers that come to the bakery and some of
them are actually quite wacky. For instance, you’ll be serving Egyptian pharaohs
as well as Egyptian Gods as well as Chinese dragons in Ancient China.
The real
problem, however, is that by the time you move to the second timeline you will
feel like you’re just doing the same thing over and over again. Sure, Cake
Mania 3 does add three mini-games but it just isn’t enough especially when
the mini games are fun for a short while. There’s Serve-O-Rama (serve cakes on a
conveyer belt), Cakey-Makey (a cake stacking mini-game) and Match Cakes (like
paying Memory with cakes).
Not as
yummy as it looks
Cake
Mania 3 isn’t the
prettiest DS game and oftentimes it’s hard to make out the type of cake a
customer wants so you better have some sharp eyes. The game does sport some
colorful backgrounds and characters that make up your clientele. The music in
the game reflects the different timeline so you’ll hear an Asian theme for the
Ancient China level and a French theme for the French Revolution level. There
are crowd sound effects but other than that there’s little that really stands
out.
A slight
improvement over the second game, Cake Mania 3 for the DS has its share
of fun moments that doesn’t last very long despite its interesting levels. The
time travel device doesn’t really distract from the real problem and that is
that the game just runs out of steam way too quickly. This is too bad seeing as
the touch-screen controls and the number of puzzles is just right.
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Gameplay: 6.0
Like the first
two games in the series, the gameplay remains the same with a number of extras
that include different appliances you can use to make your customers more
comfortable to wait in line. The different time periods don’t add anything new,
though, and there are mini games for when you’re tired of the same routine.
Graphics: 6.0
The game’s
graphics are colorful but this game could have looked a lot better, especially
since you have to identify the cake shapes that don’t come out too clearly on
the DS screen.
Sound:
6.0
The music in the
game is diverse and true to the time period but other than that there’s the
sound of a busy bakery and nothing else.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
It’s not easy
baking and serving cakes all on your own especially when the clientele is very
demanding and impatient. The levels get the more you play the game and the timed
mini games are actually challenging.
Concept: 6.0
For some strange
reason, Jill goes back into time so she’ll be serving cake to people in ancient
China and Egypt as well as other time lines just to save her wedding guest.
There are various appliances to help make your job easier. We would have loved a
two player multiplayer mode for the Mini Games.
Overall: 6.0
Cake Mania 3
for the Nintendo
DS is another serving of cake-slinging action but when it comes down to it this
series still lacks the ability to keep us glued to our handheld. That said,
there’s some limited fun to be had in this game but not enough to make us
excited about playing this one for very long.
