In 2006 we got a taste of Cooking Mama on the Nintendo DS. The game was different and it showed that simple games can be fun on the DS. A year later after the games first release we got Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends. Now the year is 2009, is Cooking Mama 2 a good game to add to your collection?

Cooking Mama 2 is simple to understand. Mama has numerous recipes for you to create with the help of the touch screen. She will help you through the steps and if you screw up Mama will let you know that everything is fine, she’ll fix it. The better you get the greater chance you’ll have at earning medals.

Each recipe is divided into a series of steps. These steps include chopping up ingredients, cutting them in-half, stirring food and an about a dozen more activities you would do in real life. Cooking Mama 2 makes cooking fun. That is if you don’t mind touchy controls that won’t always work right.

Some of the touch screen controls never seem to work right. When you are trying to chop vegetables with the stylus it does not seem to work one hundred percent of the time. You really have to push your stylus like a manic if you want to complete some tasks.

It also doesn’t help that you can earn stars if you do a better job at your tasks. If the game is preventing you from earning these stars due to poor touch screen issues, how is that fair? Earning new clothing items will cause you to put your DS down because you’ll want to cook something for real.

The game is pretty much the same as the first which is a problem. The first game in the series was a budget titles. Even after almost two years Cooking Mama 2 is still a $30 game. Do the math.

Final Verdict
Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends has this certain charm to it that makes it a real fun game. I played the hell out of the first game so it made sense to get the second. All I wish is the developers put more new aspects into the game. Earning new costumes is not enough to justify an extra $10.

Rating Breakdown
Gameplay: 7 out of 10
    + I can really cook!
    - It’s all the same really.
Graphics: 7 out of 10
    + Some of the food looks yummy.
    - Are some of these dishes really edible?
Audio: 6 out of 10
    + Better than Mama!
    - Mama sounds like she’s been smoking for years.
Replay Value: 7 out of 10
    + Try to beat your old records and earn costumes…
    - Why bother?

Overall
6.75 out of 10

More reviews:
MetaCritic: 7/10
TestFreaks: 6.3/10
IGN: 7/10

Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends Trailer

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