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COOKING MAMA 2: WORLD KITCHEN Posted by Dan Pearson on Feb 23, 2009 12:53 (Feb 23, 2009 12:53) |
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With the Wii being bogged down with party and mini games you would have thought that would already have had your fill, but Cooking Mama returns with a second helping of culinary japery and this is a game you may not want to miss.
Educational games usually fall flat on their face as being patronising or just plain boring, Cooking Mama cleverly avoids all this by offering plenty of fun mini games, each one cleverly disguising instructions on how to prepare food.  Initially you need to create a 3D character, although there is no Mii support unfortunately, then it’s onto the main game menu. Here you can choose from a range of play types. The Cook with Mama mode is the main mode, where you prepare and cook meals from around the globe. You start with eight recipes to perfect and as you complete each one another will open up, each one will be more technical than the last. The Bottom left of the screen will show you how to hold the Wii-mote, during play an arrow will appear telling what to do, like down movements to chop, spin to stir and twist to move food around. Some require perfect timing, so for example when chopping up an octopus, get it wrong and you get covered in ink, with good timing you will lop off it’s head and chop quickly through it’s tentacles. Each mini game is very straight forward and has a small learning curve. What I found surprising is that each of the movements you make transfer perfectly onto real cooking at home.  For multiplayer there is also a cooking contest which is a small selection of two player mini games where you help each other make an item, from simple pouring a perfect glass of liquid to fanning and patting sushi rice (having recently made this it is as tiring as the real thing). The game is cleverly aimed at teaching you so don’t worry if you can’t complete each mini game, because rather than penalize you a Happy Accident occurs, you drop some food or flip a pan too hard and Mama or a friend will come to the rescue. Get it right and you will continue cooking, make a mistake and you fail that area, it’s quite funny seeing your helper get crushed by a giant club sandwich if you can’t balance it properly. Though you don’t get the high score and unlock a new dish, you are slowly taught how to cook. Cooking Mama is not a game to play on an empty stomach, the sheer sight of all that food will leave you salivating. I even made one of the recipes from the game. A simple burger and it tasted great. I might try the octopus dumplings next. Yummy.
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