Cake Mania

"It is more about customer service than it is about cakes"

The concept behind Cake Mania is simple. Customers order a cake, you bake it, and they pay for it. Next. On the surface, it is how it is. But deep down, it is... still how it is, except it increases in difficulty.

To some, it might be a boring repeated exercise of performing the same task over and over again. To others, it provides a challenge as customers' order gets more complicated and the quota to past the stage gets higher.

Plot

You take on the role of Jill, whose grandparents were once the proud owners of a bakery that was bought up by a big corporation. To take up the fight to the big bad boys and in order to save the bakery, you decided to setup your own bakery. Instead of hiring a helping hand, you went alone.

The plot is neither exciting nor entertaining. If anything, it provides a back drop for the task at hand. It does not affect the gameplay at all, and most players will ignore the story.

Gameplay

The game is broken up into four 'years' that is further broken up into 'months'. Each month, there is a quota that you must meet in order to pass. This can range from few hundreds to few thousands. If you fail to meet the quota for the month, you will lose a life. Lose too many lives, and it's goodbye to the good old granny's bakery.

The flow of the game is simple. You give a menu to a customer, s/he orders a cake, you bake the cake, then put icing on it, if s/he wants another layer, you repeat the baking / frosting process, then you put a decoration on it if it is required. After which you give the cake to the customer, s/he pays for it, and you collect the money. Rinse and repeat. If they are running out of patience, turn on the TV or give them cupcakes.

At first, your shop will only have one baking oven and a frosting machine. As you earn more money at the end of each month, you can upgrade your equipments or buy new ones. The aim is to satisfy the greatest number of customers in the shortest amount of time. Get the money off your customers as soon as possible.

Up to four customers will line up in your shop. A speech bubble will appear that will tell you what they want. There are four things they will tell you, the shape of the cake, the number of layers, the colour of the icings and, if any, the decoration they want on the cake. Your job is to make the cake they want before they run out of patience, represented by the number of hearts above their heads.

Different type of customers will have a different number of hearts. For example, businessmen only have two, while a granny has more patience with four hearts. Regardless of the number of hearts, they will reduce as time passes. If you cannot delivery what the customers want before all the hearts disappears, they will leave, and you will potentially lose money on the cake.

You can prolong their patience by giving them cupcakes or installing a television (both of which you have to purchase), but ultimately, you will need to give what they ask for. The more hearts they have when you delivery the goods, the more tips they will give.

The stage will end after you have served the last customer or when the shop is closed for the month. Unfortunately, a lot of the times you need to save up for several months before you can purchase some high-end equipment upgrades.

The controls are precise for the most part. A tick appears to indicate your action. You can queue multiple commands at once. And you will. The frantic pace will ensure that you are always running around the kitchen. It is almost guarantee that you will make a mistake at some stage. The icons are relatively small, so you need precision when selecting them. And in the rush of things, you can hit the wrong icing, or the wrong shape. Unfortunately, there is no 'Cancel' command. Once you have stacked a new layer on top of another, you cannot unstack it. You cannot re-frost a cake, either. So making a mistake can be costly, both literally and figuratively.

At all times, you will be serving multiple customers. It becomes a test of your multitasking abilities, especially when customers ask for multi-layer cakes. You need to remember which layer you have made for which customer, and at which process it is in right now, be it baking, frosting or decorating. A systematic approach is required. The three step process is not as easy as it seems.

Overall, the gameplay is satisfying, even though you repeat the process over and over again, month after month, year after year. Difficulties increase progressively through the game. It can become quite challenging and frustrating towards the end, especially when you need to do the same level several times before passing it.

The concept of 'lives' is completely useless and adds no value. I'd rather much prefer the developers allow the players to repeat the stage over and over until they either run out of patience, or pass it. One way to circumvent the loss of life is to simply reset the game.

Graphics

One word - Rudimentary. However, it is sufficiently colourful for children. Characters are cartoonish, but don't expect too much detail on them. Each year you are in a different location, but all that boils down to is just the change of background. Everything else stays constant.

The main part is really the cake. They are presented clearly, albeit grainy, so you should have no trouble interrupting what the customer wants, except for the pumpkin and rectangle. Both looks similar. During the frantic rush to serve the customers, you don't really have time to enjoy the graphics. But honestly, there is nothing to see.

Sound

Not a great deal of sound effects. You get to hear the TV shows, or the customers complaining, or the frosting machine, or the sound of money, but nothing really stands out. Let's just say that they are sufficient and serve their purposes well.

Same goes for the music. It blends into the background and you hardly notice that it is there.

Replay Value

Each and every stage you play is already a replay of your previous game. And there are many, many levels in this game. Repetitive? Absolutely.

Once you have finished the main game, you unlock 'Game Select', where you can play 'Cake Mania, Return to Bakery'. You do exactly the same thing all over again, starting from scratch. Except this time, the quota is higher. Having finished main story using the fastest of everything, you don't particularly want to get back to the basics.

Overall

Despite its colourful and cartoonish graphics, Cake Mania is not really a right game for children that it is aimed at. Children will probably put it down after their tenth try to pass some of the harder stages. In this respect, Cake Mania seems to have missed their marks.

Those who will enjoy it the most are those who have the patience and persistence to go through the process of repeating the same tasks over and over. The graphics are crude and not much sound effects to speak of.

That said, the game can be addictive to some extend, but do not expect deep gameplay, refined graphics or a great story. If anything, Cake Mania is nothing more than a portable time waster.

Good:

* Can be addictive
* Good time waster

Bad:

* Too fast and hard for young children
* Repetitive
* Crude graphics

Score (out of 10)

Plot: 2
Gameplay: 6
Graphics: 5
Sound: 5
Replay: 2

Overall: 6

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/09/08

Game Release: Cake Mania (US, 04/09/07)