Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop

Hurting wrists may be a similar problem to baking in real life, but that shouldn’t be the case for games. Needs more depth of gameplay before it’s ready to be served as an exceptional game, and not as a good one.

Sweet Shop is a step backwards in some ways, but it’s a classic example of less being more. As a result, it’s also a strong jumping on point for new and lapsed fans. It’s good fun, there are a bunch of recipes to complete, and the charm of Mama as she guides players through the game is wonderful, as always. Sweet Shop should by no means be a swan song for the series; instead, it’s a rallying cry.

Cooking Mama: Sweet Shop was my first foray into the series and it left me with a middling feeling. The game is extremely charming, but ultimately, the gameplay is paper thin. That’s only compounded by the fact you’ll be replaying many of the mini games multiple times or similar versions with small tweaks. The game does offer a ton of recipes, easily offering up hours of content for those willing to grind through the mini games, but with little incentive outside of an arbitrary score and medal, it quickly becomes a daunting task.

Summary: Cooking Mama Sweet Shop is the same game we’ve played for years now. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but the franchise is starting to get as stale as a month-old fortune cookie. That said, it’s still the accessible cooking game we’ve come to expect, and it does have a couple features worth checking out if you’re interesting in a new cooking game.

I like the game, warts and all. Objectively, you should be able to tell for yourself it shows nary a whisper of growth or innovation since the series’ debut. Subjectively, I’m somehow that giggling schoolgirl once more, fawning over a cake I just mini-gamed into existence.