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How Metascores Are Calculated
40
Alone in the Dark
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games. |
Making special use of the Wii Remote, Cooking Mama: Cook Off is an entertaining blend of mashing, slicing, chopping and stirring as players create more than 300 real-world recipes from 10 different nations. New realistic graphics and real-time cooking effects lend authenticity to player creations and help budding chefs determine when food is overcooked. Best of all, Cooking Mama: Cook Off offers 2-player kitchen competitions to determine who can cook the best meal the fastest. [Majesco]
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... 100
Just Adventure
A great family game that gets everyone involved.
 95
Nintendojo
Superbly utilizing the unique features of the Wii remote, this game is highly recommended for all ages, sexes and levels of experience. You can almost smell the food cooking, the only regret is you can't taste it.
80
G4 TV
Cooking Mama: Cook Off, like a good meal, is best shared with friends.
77
AtomicGamer
Best played in short bursts. The game is nowhere near as deep as what many have grown accustomed to and is over in a few hours if you just sit down and chew through each of the cooking challenges.
75
1UP
Ultimately Cook Off's combination of improved variety, a better interface and multiplayer gameplay were an easy decision over the DS's stylus controls, solo-only play and limited palette -- and palate.
75
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Breaking up recipes into several steps, each its own minigame, is an enjoyably elegant gameplay mechanism; it works particularly well here on the Wii. [May 2007, p.80]
75
Nintendo Power
More importantly, Cook Off doesn't fix the one glaring flaw of the DS game: There's still no story/career/arcade mode to sink your teeth into--just a bunch of individual recipes. [June 2007, p.104]
75
Official Nintendo Magazine UK
This isn't a kitchen nightmare, but nor is it a triumph. [June 2007, p.76]
74
GameZone
The clever controls, resourceful objectives (there are dozens of unique recipes), and moderately high replay value are a winning combination.
70
Hardcore Gamer Magazine
Cooking mama's game design just doesn't carry its weight; it can't seem to decide if it wants to be a cooking sim for grown-up food geeks or a party game for kids, and the result is an excersize in frustration for both groups. [May 2007, p.63]
70
Digital Entertainment News
Cooking Mama: Cook-Off is a good idea that just hasn’t been done well here. The game’s controls just don’t work as they should.
68
Worth Playing
At its worst, however, Cooking Mama is enough to make you want to throw your Wiimote at the screen as the game struggles to recognize the commands that you give it.
68
Game Informer
As it stands now, the cartoony graphics don’t really make you hungry or even make you feel like you actually made food, nor is the game ridiculous enough to give you that silly kind of fun like WarioWare. Any future entry in this series will probably have to go one of those two ways.
67
The Onion (A.V. Club)
It's wildly entertaining for about 90 minutes. After that, even real cooking starts to make more sense.
65
GamePro
It's the gaming equivalent of a local neighborhood eatery: the food's good and service is decent, but it certainly won't be the best meal you've ever had.
65
NGamer UK
Cute and fun minigames, for the most part, but lacking drive or motivation for the player, with different tasks getting repetitive quickly. [JPN Import; May 2007, p.50]
63
GameBrink
It’s a niche game that most won’t like but a few will devour. [JPN Import]
60
Cheat Code Central
The cute animations and theme music are perfect for little ones. I think it is far more engaging and educational than Dora or anything else on Noggin. For the adult gamer, don't expect this to be anything more than a simple diversion for an hour or two.
60
GameSpy
Cooking Mama: Cook Off has its moments, such as in multiplayer, in which most players will end up on the same level playing field, partly due to some of the flaws of the gameplay mechanic. It seems as though Taito wanted to get a Wii version out quickly, and we wish it hadn't.
60
GameDaily
Unfortunately, perfecting one's craft requires much trial and error, thanks to the game's shoddy motion controls. Things work ok most of the time, but like the DS version, every once and a while the game fails to register the simplest of actions.
60
Gaming Target
The concept is more fascinating than the execution. Maybe I’m too used to killing Metroids, but to me this game was just boring.
60
Total Video Games
Light, amusing, and fun in short bursts, Cooking Mama seems like such a suitable title for Wii. Unfortunately, the overall result is hampered by an imprecise control system that throws skill and any sense of weight or meaning to one side, along with a lack of structure that leaves the game little more than a novel yet ultimately trivial experience - ideal for the Wii demographic it seems.
59
Games Master UK
Perversely appealing. [July 2007, p.70]
59
Gamers' Temple
The cooking game concept is off the wall enough to have the potential to be a fun party game, but Cooking Mama is not challenging or deep enough to pull it off. Instead it gives you too much repetition and frustration, kind of like getting stuck eating meatloaf every night.
58
IGN
The inviting presentation will still bring people in, it’ll still be a blast for certain gamers, and the act of doing motion-controlled cooking pantomime will be a hit with the younger crowd and a niche group of gamers. At the same time, the series has a long way to go before it really "feels right" on Wii.
57
GameTrailers
With repetitious gameplay, chore-like tasks that barely pass for mini-games, and lackluster new modes, Cooking Mama: Cook Off is the kind of game that sounds a lot more fun than it really is, and therefore, it gets its just deserts.
55
GameSpot
Though Cook Off is a lot like Cooking Mama on the DS, something significant has been lost in the translation to the Wii.
55
PALGN
It's a nice idea, it's cute, and it's sometimes fun, but the lack of longevity and control problems mean it's just not worth it.
50
Edge Magazine
Too many of its dishes are mere remixes of the same simple techniques. Too many of its taut time trials founder because of some quirk of the Remote. [June 2007, p.93]
50
EuroGamer
Whereas the DS game could be defended for ignoring significant depth for the sake of accessibility, Cook Off's controls are simply too ropey for it to earn any flavour of respect, and leave its repetitive, flash-in-the-pan mini-games open to assault.
50
Deeko
As opposed to the DS version of the game, Cooking Mama on the Wii is a mess and something that is often very hard to enjoy, especially for the younger crowd. The Wii sensitive controls don't work well and even when they do, there will always be one or two parts of a recipe that you'll maul because of those rogue elements.
50
AceGamez
It could have been much better if there was more freedom to the art of cooking, a more challenging single player structure and - most importantly - responsive and involving controls that actually give you the feeling of slicing, dicing, mincing and everything else.
45
NintendoWorldReport
The fact of the matter is that unless you are absolutely dying to play an insanely quirky Japanese game about cooking, you should stay far, far away from Cooking Mama.
40
NTSC-uk
The game can also be scored for a winsome budget price, which means that it isn’t too much of a kick to the nads if you fail to get to grips with the dodgy controls and limited wares on offer.
40
VideoGamer
Another Wii game that seems content with offering little more than a series of half-baked mini-games, with the lure of motion controls seemingly being enough to draw in users. But when those controls are clunky and only work half of the time, the game as a whole falls down.
30
games(TM)
It bears no relation to the real thing: fine if it’s fun, but unpleasant and frustrating when it’s not. And it’s really not. [June 2007, p.127]
30
Gamestyle
If you think this is a short review, you clearly haven't played Cooking Mama (and that's the way it should stay).
Jeff Z. gave it a6: Natalie J. gave it a4: [Anonymous] gave it a9: Jessica C. gave it a9: Bonbon A. gave it a7: Laura M. gave it a10: [Anonymous] gave it a5: |
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