'Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop' Review: Is Game Worth Picking Up?
Early reviews have arrived for the upcoming Nintendo 3DS game, "Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop," which is set for release tomorrow, May 18.
Like all other installments in the "Cooking Mama" series, this new iteration will task players to prepare some food following a recipe.
"Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop" will focus on crafting desserts, which players will then display on their shop for customers to purchase.
The profit from this can be used to improve the store or buy accessories for titular character, Tomoko, who guides players with the food preparation.
There are 60 recipes in "Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop" and over 160 mini-games, which range from opening a can to cracking an egg, that simulate the steps of the cooking process.
CGMag Online says that the mini-games are almost failure-proof. Except for the ones that only warranted one try, the site basically breezed through them all without issue.
Failing or not being able to perform the step properly is not really a big deal in "Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop," as the abovementioned pointed out.
Players will get a bronze medal and a lower score and will still get to move on to the next step. The pastry or dessert will still look perfect despite the errors and it will still be sold for full value.
That being said, CGMag Online hopes that "Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop" will have worse consequences and that there will be visual proof of the slip-ups while creating the food.
More on the mini-games, iDigital Times notes that some of the ones performed in the preparing the food are required to be performed again on when on the desert shop. Some even offer unlockables so players will have to repeat these mini-games either way.
Finally, the biggest gripe about "Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop" is the lack of real sense of purpose or depth. Twinfinite says that the only motivations in the game are the items earned from the profit and the medals by the end of the recipes that indicate you did a good job crafting the pastries.
The site, however, says that this could be forgiven with the fun the game brings so for those who want to whip up some desserts, "Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop" will be available tomorrow for the Nintendo 3DS.
