Cooking Mama – NDS – Preview

E3 2006 Hands On Preview

Can a cooking game be fun?
That’s the question I asked myself upon the announcement of Cooking Mamma, a
quirky-looking video game that caters to the quirky Japanese market. It’s a game
of mini-games. With a few small exceptions, I don’t like mini-games.
Nonetheless, I was assigned to preview this title, so…

To my surprise, Cooking Mamma
wasn’t just a game of mini-games. It wasn’t just a cooking gimmick, or some
cheesy, cutesy, kiddie monotony that few gamers can stand. It wasn’t any of
those things at all. Cooking Mamma was, unbelievably, a cool, clever, and
extremely addictive title.

Here’s how it works. You get
recipes, LOTS of recipes. There are over 70 in all, and each one has a list of
required ingredients and cooking preparation methods that must be followed in
order to make the dish. Majesco stresses that this is a game designed for every
player, but that doesn’t mean it’ll be a cakewalk. I played it and can
confirm it’s definitely not a breeze – it’s just forgiving.

I can’t remember the name of
the dish I was supposed to prepare first, but involved things like meat that had
to be fried, bread that needed to be sliced, and vegetables that needed to be
cooked. Every requirement involves a different mini-game. First I had to slice
the bread (which is done by tapping screen as quickly possible). Next I had to
slice the vegetables, which required a little more precision in regards to where
I tapped the screen. Eventually I was led to the point of placing the meat in
the pan along with the vegetables. I had to push them around to keep them from
burning, then let them sit in order for items to get cooked all the way
through.

I had to batter meat, butter
pans, flip this weird noodle dish, and perform dozens of other cooking-related
duties. It sounds as crazy as it looks, but just like WarioWare, there’s a
certain charm about this game that cannot be denied.

Majesco says that Cooking Mama
will utilize the Nintendo DS’s microphone for cooling food. How so? Simply blow
into the microphone to lower the temperature of your meal.

This is an E3 preview – all I
gotta do is list the content, I’m not required to give an opinion on a product
that’s not complete. So believe me when I say you have to check this game out
when it’s released. Majesco is placing it under their value line of titles and
plans to sell it for $19.99. But the content you’re getting is not a cheap value
– it’s better than pretty much every mini-game collection I’ve ever played.
And it’s taught me a thing or two about cooking.

For All E3 2006 Previews