"I'm sorry, Mama. I never meant to hurt you. I never meant to deep fat fry..."

...but tonight, I'm cooking in my closet.

If the idea of a cooking game doesn't sound like your cup of tea, then maybe Cooking Mama isn't for you. If you keep an open mind though, this could be a great way to kill time.

Cooking Mama represents what more DS games should be like. It's interactive and playful. It doesn't require a large dedication of time to enjoy. It makes great use of the stylus. It is just a simple, portable game. There is no great quest here. There's no mighty villain. There's no levelling up. You're just here to cook, and cook well, dammit.

There's nothing wrong with the simplicity of the gameplay though. Making the perfect dish requires dexterity and skill. There are 76 dishes for you to master and earn medals for, there's a litany of skills challenges, and for fun, there's also a way to combine your favorite dishes with more complex recipes.

Every dish is divided into steps. Some dishes have more or less steps than other dishes, and some dishes are easier or harder to create than others. Each "step" of the recipe is like a mini-game. There's a different mini-game for every kind of cooking skill: Chopping, slicing, saute, frying, grating, measuring, beating, peeling, separating, grilling, and many more than I can even name. Some of the games are easily mastered, and a few are tough yet fair. The only cooking procedure that ever gave me fits was peeling a carrot. Unfortunately, one of the very first recipes that the game throws at you involves peeling, and it can be discouraging. You don't have to tackle ach dish in order though.

The first goal of the game is to complete and unlock every recipe, which is fun on its own. Once you're ready to become a MASTER, go back and try to get a gold medal in every recipe. To get a gold medal, you have to finish every cooking step within the time limit, without a single mistake. On some dishes, this can take a few tries, and that is what keeps me coming back for me.

In addition to the recipes, there are also skills challenges. If you want to master one particular skill, you can take the challenge to master that skill. You will need to complete skill exercises in ascending levels of difficulty, and it can get tough, believe me. If you're one of those people who thinks a game is too hard if you can't pass everything with flying colors on the first try, the skill challenges might be too much for you. Much like the bulk of the recipe book, more skills challenges will be unlocked as you progress through the game.

Finally, and just for fun, you can combine recipes. Combining recipes usually means that you have to complete all the steps for both individual recipes in one fell swoop. Challenge yourself to do it perfectly if you want, but medals aren't saved for combination dishes. It's still a cool feature, and there are some wacky meals that can be created.

The reason I love Cooking Mama is because it really gets me worked up. It's not a game where after a while, you just start going through the motions after you get the hang of it, like most games out there. This game has you moving your stylus in a fast and furious way for as long as you play: Tapping, rubbing, spinning, making precise cuts. It's very stimulating in that way. Plus, you can play it for as long or short as you like, and really, isn't that the way portable games ought to be? If you only have a few minutes to spare, you can still crank out a recipe or two. It's cheaper than the average DS game, too, which is a definite bonus.

On the negative side, the game might be considered a little shallow for today's gamer. Also, peeling sucks, particularly of carrots. Graphically, the game is very cute and inoffensive, but not up to today's standards in regards to impressiveness, and musically, the sound is just good enough to keep you from turning the sound off. It's an entirely forgettable soundtrack.

Still, for DS owners with a quirky taste in games (no pun intended), I highly recommend it. It's one of the best purchases I've made yet.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/17/06