"It's like WarioWare Touched, but delicious!"

Introduction

Cooking Mama is a sim game for the Nintendo DS, much like Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center, which simulates a real-life job in a fun way. The theme of this game, naturally, is cooking (it's not just a clever title). The game consists of a series of fast-paced mini-games and can be compared to WarioWare Touched!

Graphics [7/10]

Graphics are cartoony. Mama herself is a classic chibi-type Japanese animated character (LARGE head). The look matches the light-hearted feel for the game. Animations are clear and accurate to the cooking job you're doing. While the graphic style matches the game's feel, I deduct points on the basis that some of the graphics aren't as smoothly blended in the game. Front characters and background effects seem to be a little choppy, sometimes GIF-esque. While the game was never meant to compare to the likes of Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass or Final Fantasy III, the graphics seem like they could be pulled off on the GBA.

Music [8/10]

Music is light-hearted and fun, and matches the graphic style and mood completely. They are all piano pieces that seem reminiscent of 80s cooking TV shows. However, there's less than 10 actual songs in the entire game, and only about four that randomly rotate during gameplay, so they do start to get a bit redundant.

Control [9/10]

It uses the stylus in clever ways. Comparable to WarioWare Touched!, each mini-game has different controls. I only deduct points based on the accuracy of some mini-games, particularly the types you have to drag the stylus (slicing, peeling, etc). Sometimes it seems like it's not as accurate as it could be, which leads to lost points (no gold medal this round!) and frustration. By the way, the game 100% stylus-controlled.

Variety [9/10]

There are lots of different mini-games to match real-life cooking techniques. The "Let's Cook" mode let's you complete recipes, with 76 to unlock, while "Use Skill" turns the cooking skills into an arcade-style challenge mode. There is technically less variety than WarioWare as far as the mini-game types go. However, the challenge modes seem to be more complete and goal-oriented than WarioWare's.

Challenge [6/10]

Completing all of the initial 76 recipes is rather easy. The whole "Let's Cook" mode (the "main" game) seems like a practice round for the "Use Skill" mode. "Use Skill" is a mode where it takes each individual mini-game and turns it into a time-based challenge mode.

Replay Value [7/10]

Unlocking all 76 recipes is easy, just time-consuming. It'll take extra effort to get gold medals in each recipe. Mastering the "Use Skill" challenge mode will take you a while, though. Once everything is completed, however, all you have left to do is play through the recipes or challenges again. You can also play against your friends to see who can get a better score.

Conclusion

Cooking Mama is definitely a niche game where fun-factor is the main focus here. If you love sim type games such as Trauma Center and/or mini-game centric games such as WarioWare, you'll love this game.

Overall: [9/10]

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/15/06