Cooking Mama

"Just like mama used to make"

We have played lawyer, doctor, cheerleader, and now chef! Oh yes, as far-fetched as it would have sounded a couple of months ago, we have finally got localisation for yet another odd Japanese title.

Cooking Mama is essentially a whole collection of brief mini-games not unlike that seen in WarioWare. The various tasks are based on Japanese home cooking with a couple of more Western dishes to fill up the recipe book to an impressive 76. You will be chopping, tearing, filling, coating, deep-frying, separating egg yolks... nearly every possible cooking task you could imagine. In all, that comes to around 40 different mini-games, a far-cry from that seen in WarioWare.

This "sim" comes across as girlish/childish, but look past the the simple anime exterior (which actually is quite nice after a while!) and you will find an addictive experience which most surprisingly resembles the actual tasks used in real-life cooking - the way they portray cooking eggs and fried rice dishes in particular shares uncanny resemblance to my own tasty methods!

And so with the visuals displaying simplicity effectively, with lots of bouncing going on, the music backs it up well with a small selection of ragtime tunes. Clearly it looks and sounds like a budget title, but then again, it is! At US$20 it is a steal.

As I mentioned earlier, the game comprises of various mini-games stringed together as so-called recipes. Different dishes are unlocked as you complete or modify previous ones. In all there is a decent variety, from deep-fried chicken and omelettes to gourmet soups and even instant noodles!. For those who would like to learn, it is a fun insight into what goes on in the kitchen without any mess. For those like me who enjoy cooking for real, it is fun just to get a kick out of mock prepping.

It is not for everyone, but for those looking for something to tide them now and again, and for those who have some interest in cooking, it is perfect especially considering the price tag. It is highly addictive initially, but as you start to complete you recipe set, it does get a bit repetitive. Also there is little incentive to obtain gold medals for all; and on the topic of medals, the scoring is too restrictive - either perfect 100 for gold, below that for silver, failures for bronze or nil. As I said, play in short bursts and this should not be too much of a problem.

There has already been a Wii version confirmed. I expect it to be more of the same, perhaps more international flavours and crazy uses of the interactive tool (stylus here, wiimote there). Cooking mama looks good and plays like what it sets out to be: an enjoyable , interactive take on the cooking genre. There is really nothing else like it, but it is a niche title. Highly recommended for your younger siblings perhaps; that way you get to sneak in your own playtime when they hit the hay prematurely!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/21/06