Cooking Mama/Trauma Center
I only managed to get about a half hour of Wii time in this weekend and it was used to try out Cooking Mama.
I tried making a few basic recipes and also tried a few of the multiplayer recipes. It's fun at first, but I have a feeling the novelty will wear out (I haven't gotten to that point yet though). There's no narrative to the game, and the Iron Chef mode is fairly simplistic. The competition is judged by points determined by how well and quickly you did the tasks for the selected recipe. Points are an abstract concept when dealing with food, even though Iron Chef has to eventually resort to them as well. The difference being Iron Chef's points are based on taste, presentation and creativity; whereas, Cooking Mama's are based on game skill. The food looks the same at the end regardless of how well you did throughout and there's no judge at the end that criticizes the result, which would have been welcome.
One other aspect that annoys me is that the cartoony art style means the food doesn't look realistic and therefore not that appetizing. If the food looked appetizing, it would give a better sense of achievement when finished. I really didn't try it out long enough to give a fair evaluation, so I will reserve any further judgement, but I must say there is a visceral thrill in chopping up those veggies with the wii-mote!
I also tried out Trauma Center earlier in the week, which is another adapted game from the DS system. It's a surprisingly strong title with an engaging storyline and an attractive anime art style that complements an excellent implementation of the controls. Perhaps the strongest indication of its appeal is that my sister sunk 12 hours into this game on the weekend...and she's not a gamer. Dr. Dre has also mentioned that "it's the best game for wii". It really is an unexpectedly thrill to fix up these people and make them better!
So far, from the DS games adapted to the Wii, the one major area that is lacking is sound. There needs to be more variety in background music as well as much more variety in sound effects. Also, voice acting would be welcome. The other area is some of the controls may need a little more polishing, since it was adapted from a stylus game and not built ground up for the Wii. But for $22.80, I have absolutely no regrets!
I tried making a few basic recipes and also tried a few of the multiplayer recipes. It's fun at first, but I have a feeling the novelty will wear out (I haven't gotten to that point yet though). There's no narrative to the game, and the Iron Chef mode is fairly simplistic. The competition is judged by points determined by how well and quickly you did the tasks for the selected recipe. Points are an abstract concept when dealing with food, even though Iron Chef has to eventually resort to them as well. The difference being Iron Chef's points are based on taste, presentation and creativity; whereas, Cooking Mama's are based on game skill. The food looks the same at the end regardless of how well you did throughout and there's no judge at the end that criticizes the result, which would have been welcome.
One other aspect that annoys me is that the cartoony art style means the food doesn't look realistic and therefore not that appetizing. If the food looked appetizing, it would give a better sense of achievement when finished. I really didn't try it out long enough to give a fair evaluation, so I will reserve any further judgement, but I must say there is a visceral thrill in chopping up those veggies with the wii-mote!
I also tried out Trauma Center earlier in the week, which is another adapted game from the DS system. It's a surprisingly strong title with an engaging storyline and an attractive anime art style that complements an excellent implementation of the controls. Perhaps the strongest indication of its appeal is that my sister sunk 12 hours into this game on the weekend...and she's not a gamer. Dr. Dre has also mentioned that "it's the best game for wii". It really is an unexpectedly thrill to fix up these people and make them better!
So far, from the DS games adapted to the Wii, the one major area that is lacking is sound. There needs to be more variety in background music as well as much more variety in sound effects. Also, voice acting would be welcome. The other area is some of the controls may need a little more polishing, since it was adapted from a stylus game and not built ground up for the Wii. But for $22.80, I have absolutely no regrets!
Labels: Cooking Mama, Reviews, Wii
posted by Nelson at 10:45 PM
6 comments
