Cooking Mama 4 3ds Review Nin
Cooking Mama 4 3ds
Cooking Mama 4 3ds Review

3DS

Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic

by Lauren Ronaghan - December 15, 2011, 11:40 am EST
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Join the original digital chef as she makes her debut on Nintendo 3DS with Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic! From new recipes and ways to play to fresh kitchen activities and dish combinations, the iconic kitchen cutie has some tricks up her sleeve that will magically transform kitchen newbies into master culinary artists!

'Don't worry! Mama will fix it!' I hope so, Mama. I hope so...

Cooking Mama 4 (EU) Number of Players 4 Genre Other, Puzzle Release Date. 20th Nov 2011 (USA) 25th Nov 2011 (UK/EU) 1st Dec 2011 (JPN) Series Cooking Mama Tags Food Controller Support. Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic Nintendo 3DS Game now on Sale! Thousands of DS and 3DS games in stock with Free Shipping.

Mama has been around the block, with three DS games, two Wii games, and four spin-offs (including the baby-shaking epic Babysitting Mama). Her fourth mainline portable entry, subtitled Kitchen Magic, is the series’ 3DS debut, and outside of making use of 3D and the system’s controls, it’s not all that different from the predecessors.

That’s not that much of a bad thing, as the quick-paced mini-games are fun, even if some recipes seem to take forever to complete. The game takes real cooking techniques and gamifies them into timing-based games. The touch screen is primarily used to mix ingredients or cut them up with simple swipes. Occasionally, the system’s microphone and gyroscope are used, with the former being annoying and the latter being kind of fun.

The biggest problem with Cooking Mama is that everything feels the same. Yes, you’re using different ingredients to make different dishes, but they all require the same touch screen movements, performed in a similar rhythm. It never truly evolves throughout the 50+ included recipes. Performing these tasks is pretty intuitive (you can practice before you do it for real if you’re worried), but tapping furiously to dice vegetables can only be done so often.

Kitchen Magic does have two other modes, though, that attempt to vary things. One involves picking a previously unlocked recipe to mix with another dish. These are all unlocked at the beginning, and are short mini-games that allow you to make meals such as steak curry or corndog pizza. Additionally, unlockable mini-games, usually based around household chores, are available. They are all forgettable.

Cooking Mama 4 is nothing more than a new iteration of a played out series. This game is for fans of touch screen-based mini-games and references to cooking only. Oddly, despite the term being in the title, there is little actual learning about the craft. For most players, you’re better off skipping this title, as it is just more of the same.

Summary

Pros

Gyroscope is fun
Occasionally fun stylus-heavy gameplay

Cons

Iterative
Microphone is not fun
Repetitious
Tautological

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3DS

Game Profile

Cooking Mama 4 3ds Review Nin

Worldwide Releases

Cooking Mama 4 3ds

Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic
Release	Nov 15, 2011
Publisher	Majesco
Rating	Everyone
Cooking Mama 4
Release	Dec 01, 2011
Publisher	Office Create
Rating	All Ages
Cooking Mama 4
Release	Nov 25, 2011
Publisher	505 Games
Rating	3+

Cooking Mama 4 3ds Review

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