Cooking Mama: Cookoff Review

Platform: Nintendo Wii
ERSB: E for Everyone
Genre: Sim, Mini-Games
Number of Players: 1-2
Publisher: Majesco Entertainment (US)
Release Date: May 11th, 2007
Official Website
Writer: Cherith

Rating: 5.0

Graphics:Graphics are pretty much the same as they were for the DS version, basic and colorful. There’s not a lot to ooh and aww over graphics-wise, and for a game full of food, it’s not very appetizing. The surface renders on vegetables sort of look like real veggie textures, but even on a large screen it’s not enough to be empressed.

Controls:The controls are pretty lacking with the Wii remote. For the single player, it’s easier, but because you’re on a big screen and without a stylus all movements have to be pretty carefully calculated to be accurate. For two players, the game is easily confused and the second player has a lot of trouble getting their sensor on the screen. Also, as the game starts up the two player recipes, the second player doesn’t have a hand on the screen to tell them where the sensor is for their controller, it gives the first player a slight advantage as you begin a recipe. It’s also important to note that there is no option to control the sensitivity of the Wii remote actions

Sound:The game music is upbeat and fun, just like the DS version, if you kept the sound on.

Flow:Again, there’s a difference between the single player and two player pieces to the game. In single player mode you get motions and tips to help you as you move through the recipe. In the versus recipe you’ll get written tips before the beginning of the parts of the recipe but no visual clues as the recipe progresses, for beginners (friends you might invite to play that haven’t played before) there’s a pretty steep learning curve, especially with each recipe having different motions to learn.

Fun Factor:For the money, it’s not as much fun as the DS version. Sure, it’s nice to see things on the big screen, but the control you have to have over the Wii remote as you play is a big distraction. The best thing with this game would be the ability to play against your friends, but with the advantage the first player has over the second, it’s really not as fun as it could be.

Female Aspect:It’s a cooking game, with a small girl that gives you tips as you progress and voices the “Excellent”s or “Try Harder”s. She’ll even tell you it’s “Better than Mama!”.

Replay Value:Once you’ve made a recipe five or six times and then competed against one of the international girls to see who can make it better, the recipes lose some of the fun. And when you finally get tired of your friends complaining about your advantage you’ll it gets even older.

If you have to play a game where you get to cook – buy the DS version. It’s cheaper and more fun. The Wii version isn’t without it’s moments, but poor execution of gameplay definitely doesn’t make it worth the price.