With everything that DS has done to bring about this idea of using a touch screen to play your games, who would have ever thought to bring about a game about cooking? The people at Office Create definitely thought of a great idea while they were developing this game. Cooking Mama blew away the audience at E3 in 06 and left them drooling to start making some dishes.
The main frame of the game lies on the "Let's Cook" mode that allows the players to make just single dishes, which if done right can unlock a new dish you can make. The gameplay revolves around a set of mini-games (which for Nintendo, mini-games make up 60% of their backbone) which involve going about preparing something as simple as microwaving ramen noodles in a cup to slicing and dicing many varieties of elequent meat dishes. It allows for quick and fun gameplay that challenges you to try your luck at earning the gold medal for each dish you can prepare. There is also a mode that allows you to combine 2 dishes and play all of their mini-preperation games combined together. The real challenge lies in the skills mode though. In the skills mode the player chooses what skill they believe they are the best at and see if they can beat all of Mama's challenges.
Beware of Mama though, she may seem like a very nice and (in a chibi-anime sense) attractive lady but if you mess up you will see the fire in her eyes, literally. The graphics and sound play into exactly what the developer wanted to do with the game, just plain old pointless fun. The use of colors and sound leave you smiling and happy. I found myself laughing the first time I messed up with Mama, and pleased when she smiled at the dishes I got correct. The graphics may not be pushing the standards of gaming, but they accomplish what they intend.
The biggest downfall of this game though was in the fact that there is no multiplayer. There is just the single player mode and that is it. It would have really added to the fun if they had added that Iron Chef feel to it and let me combat my cooking ability against my friends (which I know Iron Chef Sakai). It seems though that is the minor flaw that left this game as good and not great. It leaves the replayabilty leaning on the crutch that is the medals. For each dish you are alotted a medal depending on how you do, gold being the best and bronze being alright with silver in the middle. It just didn't add up though without the multi-player.
The game did seem to accomplish what it was meant for. When I picked it up for $20 i just wanted a non-serious game that i could use as a relaxer between my hours of serious games, and that is what i got. This game is definitally $20 worth of fun and is a great pick up for any DS library. Be prepared though, late at night you might find yourself tuning into Food Network to see how many dishes you can make on Cooking Mama to compare to the Iron Chef.
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