Cooking Mama: Cook Off

"I Wish Cooking in Real Life Was As Easy As This."

If someone says that they don't like experimenting with random ingredients in a kitchen while making a ton of mess in the process, then that person would be lying. Cooking Mama gave me a chance to make a load of worldwide know dishes without having to worry about all that washing up, and of course the granny like feeling your fingers would get after they had spent too much time in hot soapy water. So how did this game fair? Is it really as good as Mama says it is? Should we trust Mama, or just forget what the old senile battle-axe suggests and leave her own title to collect dust on the shelf along side your mums cookery books?

Cooking Mama is an interesting concept. Who would have thought that sitting down whilst waving your arms around like a loony would be any fun? Cooking Mama gives you just that. You aren't actually doing very much and after the first initial 20 mins you kind of feel a little cheated. Most actions for most of the mini-games are practically the same, chopping a potato is the same as chopping an onion, where in real life we all know that isn't the case as onions can be a right pain in the butt.(Onions make you cry, too) Now while they do give you a ton of recipes (all of which are very easy to understand and create with ease) every recipe will have at least one mini-game that you have already played in another recipe (some even have numerous ones) SO while the creators try to trick you by saying "Over 50 recipes to cook" they really should have said: "Heh, all you gaming fools out there. We are going to give you a limited amount of mini-games and make you play through them over an over. We will though place a different food name above your latest creation just to make you think and feel like you've been given a vast amount of gameplay variety"

Cooking Mamas gameplay is repetitive and to be fully honest I can't see a gamer over the age of 11yrs old playing for longer than a few hours (maybe I'm pushing it) because everything kind of catches up to you. At first you will say: "Huh, wasn't this mini-game on the Hot Dog recipe as well?". You let it slide only to find the same game pops up again and again. The creators never found other unique ways (Especially with the chopping games) to play. To add to insult, the game is incredibly easy, every challenge even the most difficult (there are none really) are very easy. You will find yourself bored because the game lacks any real meat and you will be left desiring something with at least a little difficulty. It's also so easy that my baby sister can even beat me at it sometimes because all you need to do most of the time is shake your hand.

Just like most other Wii games the visuals are poor, basic and all could have been done on a Sega Dreamcast/N64. Actually they kinda look like better version of a cooking Internet game. There really isn't much to look at here, you have a tomato, and a knife, you cut said tomato with knife and you see the finishing product. You have a small oven, where depending on how long you cook for the colour of the food inside changes colour. Nothing here takes any real control of the Wiis visual capabilities and although they don't hurt your eyes, Cooking Mamas graphics won't really leave a lasting effect on you either.

The music is the same loop over and over, except for when your playing in the mode "Friends from around the world". While the music is quite catchy at first, soon your be yearning for a little more than a loops of kiddish themes. The cooking sounds are pretty authentic in their own rights; the sounds of the knife on a chopping board; the sound of the oven beeps; the sound of a deep fat fryer, and even Cooking Mamas perpetual usage of the phrase Better Than Mama. Anyway, the effects are sweet but again there isn't anything special here to make it really stand out as a definite BUY IT NOW! Wii title.

As for replay value, Mama has to play against the computer mode that unlocks lame items for Mama's kitchen (also poorly designed as well). challenge mode with no breaks and no instructions for recipes. It's just ongoing until you have finished said recipe (this does add more challenge) and finally a vs mode (no shocks here) That's all people, nothing more. At least the controls make things a little brighter.

So as I'm trailing along trying to find something more to say about this unique game I do happen to come across its randomness. Cooking Mama is unusual, it's so different to what would normally be released, and to be honest (as I said above) Cooking Mama feels like a game that could have been produced by some idle, Internet programming geek (one that aspires to make real games for money) who creates and releases free games in his spare time. But for the fact that people have to pay up to £30 for this game is just a joke. I bought it for £15 and still thought it were a rip-off. You really aren't getting good value for money. There is more fun to be had from actually cooking, at least at the end of that you know you have something to eat even if it does taste like........

"Better than Mama?" Err, you can stop repeating that now. Maybe it's time we checked Mama into an old people's home. "What's that?" ........ "You're only 36!"

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/04/09

Game Release: Cooking Mama (EU, 05/11/07)