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Gardening Mama

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8.5 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 17 critic reviews
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Based on 2 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Majesco Entertainment

Developer: Cooking Mama Ltd.

Genre(s): Simulation

Players: 4

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: March 31, 2009

Summary

Cooking Mama's stepped out of her kitchen and into nature for some gardening fun! Join Mama from the award-winning, multi-million selling Cooking Mama franchise as she grows, harvests and enjoys the literal fruits of her labor in the first ever gardening game for Nintendo DS. Use the stylus as your master garden tool to take care of flowers, fruit trees and vegetables in Mama's garden. Growing live products means that you may experience unexpected results based on your care--flowers can bloom different colors, fruit trees can grow different fruits, etc. Multiple modes of play include: Let's Grow It--Grow many kinds of flowers, fruits and vegetables. Manage your garden as it seeds, blooms fruit, bears fruit and matures. Fertilizer and soil conditions will affect your results. Let's Enjoy It--Produce items from the flowers, fruits and vegetables you have raised (i.e. grow strawberries and make strawberry jam; grow flowers and press them into an album; grow pumpkins to make jack-o-lanterns, etc.) Let's Do Gardening--Follow Mama's expert guidance as you decorate various chapel, house and store gardens while making gardening goods like pergolas and hanging baskets, and planting flower beds and trees. Let's Harvest multiplayer--Compete against up to four friends online to harvest fruits and vegetables. The winner harvests the most! Treasure Box--Keep the products you've made from your gardening and trade those creations with friends online. Dress Up--Change Mama's costume and customize your game layout and design. The better your score in the other modes, the nicer items you can earn to customize. [Majesco]

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Nintendo Power

If you liked Cooking Mama, give this one a try. [Apr 2009, p.88]

GamePro

Gardening Mama doesn't do anything that we haven't seen already in the Cooking Mama games. [Apr 2009, p.79]

GameSpot

Mama's minigames bloom nicely in their new garden thanks to improved game design.

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GameZone

While it’s not as satisfying as the Cooking Mama series, there’s a lot to love about Mama’s garden. Gardening Mama’s mini-games are fun in short bursts but totally cute enough to show you and your Stylus a good time.

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NintendoWorldReport

While Gardening Mama comes very close to being a leader in the series, glitchy controls and gameplay that can become tedious and boring hold it back from being a truly enjoyable title.

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1UP

Even with its frustrating controls, if you found yourself hooked on Cooking, you'll feel the same about Mama's adventures in Gardening -- with the same sense of accomplishment when you ace her assignments, and the same swearing and stylus throwing when things go horribly wrong.

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Game Informer

Gardening Mama could use more of a Harvest Moon crop economy instead of rewarding players with lawn decorations and new slacks. But if you like Cooking Mama, this is certainly on par.

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Worth Playing

However, as someone who was pretty lukewarm on the concept to begin with, Gardening Mama hasn't done much to change my mind, and the irritating controls went a long way toward making me dislike the game altogether. If you can get past that, then you might enjoy the sim aspect of Gardening Mama for the DS, but for me, it was pretty much a wash.

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NGamer UK

A cute enough attempt to perk up the Mama franchise but a mere change of scenery isn't enough to disguise the same old gameplay. [July 2009, p.74]

Games Radar (in-house)

Read that last bit again. “Dress up Mama to your liking?” Has there ever been a creepier, more Freudian feature in any game, ever? No, we do NOT want to put cute clothes on Mama.

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Nintendo Life

The controls may be to simplistic to be engaging and the absence of instructions can lead this casual game into frustrating territory. Nevertheless, even with the simplistic controls and lack of guidance the player will still feel that same sense of accomplishment and pride when you master Mama’s tasks.

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Official Nintendo Magazine UK

Fun in very short bursts, but this is too frustrating and too flawed to be enjoyed for any longer. [June 2009, p.80]

Kombo

Gardening Mama and Cooking Mama might as well be the same game. The change of setting is nice but that alone doesn't differentiate it enough from past Mama games to make Gardening Mama feel completely home grown and fresh.

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IGN

With Gardening Mama, this videogame mother is officially beginning to wear out her welcome. She's still cute as hell, but the controls are too simple to be engaging and the lack of tutorial in many challenges renders them unplayable.

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Everyeye.it

The minigames are too simple and repetitious. The input system doesn't work well.The whole structure is the same as the first two "Cooking" games, with a botanic twist that doesn't renew a childish gameplay.

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Teletext GameCentral

Mama's sideline in gardening proves to be just as shallow and repetitive as her cookery courses.

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Modojo

If you're an eco-friendly person looking for an ideal DS experience, or you just want to see what planting flowers with a stylus is like, Gardening Mama might be for you. Be forewarned, however. It's nowhere near as fun as the cooking games.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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Gardening Mama

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