In my ever exciting life as a gaming journo, I stopped by Majesco today to check out some titles coming out this year, most notably Cooking Mama: Cook Off for the Wii. Not only did I get to see the game in action, but I also got to play a little multiplayer as well. Since the title is so simple, there wasn't a whole lot of time spent with it.
Either way, hit the jump for my impressions. Oh, and before you go, here's one very important thing to know: No online multiplayer. I'll get into that when you click on over.
Let's get the basic junk out of the way: Cooking Mama on the Wii will ship in April this year and retail for $49.99 -- kind of steep if you ask me for a game like this, but oh well. The game will feature NO online multiplayer whatsoever -- more on that later -- but will have some cool offline multiplayer cook-off modes, including a new challenge mode. There are more than 250 foods to create and 55 real world dishes from 10 different nations: Japan, America, France, India, Russia, England, China, Spain, Germany and Italy.
OK, now for the good stuff. The gameplay is pretty much what you'd expect if you played the DS version. It's not a straight port, but it's very similar as far as modes and play styles. If you've played WarioWare for the Wii, you'll actually find a lot of the movements to be very similar on Cooking Mama, except you of course do them with a Wiimote this time.
The sad part is though, that like WarioWare, some of the Wiimote gestures are a bit tricky and don't respond as well as you'd like -- this is actually a disturbing trend on the Wii.
The happy part is that the game is fun, especially in the two-player challenge mode. It's no Iron Chef, but it is a light and easy game that you could play with your kid sister or aging grandma. In essence, the game is a perfect example of what the Wii is all about: It's casual, it's fun, and it's simple.
My biggest bone to pick with the game is the lack of online multiplayer. I spoke with the Majesco rep about it and he talked about how Nintendo was still keeping their online service a secret from developers. Basically saying that Nintendo is not letting devs know how to develop their games for Nintendo's online service.
In case you don't think this is a problem, let me tell you, it is. In fact, the rep was telling me that the online question is the #1 thing he is asked all the time about the game. Everyone wants it and everyone wants to know about it. The bottomline is that for now, if a Wii game doesn't have online, don't blame the developer or publisher. It seems that Nintendo is content to keep online on their games only ... for now.
Let me finish by saying this: I liked Cooking Mama on the DS and I like this Wii version. While the Wiimote may not have been as accurate as I would have liked for some of the actions, this was an early build and they do have some time to lock things down, so there is hope.
Contest:
2:06 PM on 02.01.2007
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"HA! Fillet Mignon bitch!"
"WTF? Broiler is so cheap..."
I want meat! Something with more substance.
I felt the same thing happened when the DS was released, all the games that were coming out were just showcasing what you could do with the stylus. Eh I can hold my horses and get a 360, you damn people have made me want one.
/goes back to playing Gears on the 360.
Looks pretty fun, and since we know that videogames train us to do things in real life, I'll become a master chef in no time!!! Muhahaha!!!
It's fun for the first couple days, but then once you realize you can't play online with friends... you go play Gears. Or even any number of crappy Xbox live arcade games that have online co-op and leaderboards.
Just do it, Nintendo. What's the hold up?
WYSIWYG doesn't apply to all of us when it comes to cooking. I'm not that bad of a cook, but I know none of my meals would look half as appetizing as they could potentially look.
I know some people who can't cook worth a damn. Like saltwater would confuse the fuck outta them. So a title like this, where it's virtually impossible to screw up, is a good idea.
Plus by playing this game, your house will never smell of burning sulfur/dead horse/rotted cabbage, and you have to deal with your friends lying to you about how "delicious" your food really is.
I love my Wii and have a lot of faith in Nintendo, but I really want to see some online RPGs coming down the pike.
Anyone hear anything about Phantasy Star Online (Not Universe) for the wii? I'd kill a man for it, if that would help things.
I don't think all games need online content, and while some would clearly benefit from it, Nintendo ain't budging. I don't mind. I didn't buy a Mac to play games, I don't buy Nintendo expecting multiplayer online. You can already have an expectation, I'd wager, from some of their games to NOT be online and be multiplayer. How much of a Party would Mario Party be if no one else came? And clamoring for online is all well and good, but SSBM is just not going to be as fun if I can't mock my combatants in person. There's no potential for reasonable online chat or voice stuff here, remember...
I think the biggest hold up for online from Nintendo is that they don't have any games online yet. Once Nintendo gets their first online capable title out the door, it'll probably get a lot easier for developers to get dev kits for online stuff. Remember that back when XBL first launched their service, it was a LOT of MS developed (or financed) titles that helped launch the service. Now that everyone's doing online stuff, apparently there's some expectation that everyone should be able to have access to online network stuff from the get go.
I think that a year from now, online will have improved for Nintendo, it should be completely out for everyone, but there's still going to be the goddamn friend code system. Especially in light of the fuckin' Devlin pedophile in MO.
This whole thing started with computer games and now its happening with consoles. People like to feel that they are connected to something and not alone in this cold miserable world, then when they do. They want to show off their pwning skills. Its fun killing bots but most of the time people want a challenge that isn't controlled by some retarded AI.
I've always been a fan of Nintendo, but they're just not keeping up.
Oh wait, cookbooks already do that.
Why do people want to play this game? I'd rather be able to actually eat something after cooking it, virtual or not. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a wiimote to baste.
Plus,I'll be your friend Summa.
Now try and sleep at night.
Oh well, there's always Cooking Mama 2 Electric Boogaloo
I thought they got it. WiiConnectOnXBL is more like it so far.
And yeah Summa, Nintendo should know that us gamers have poor social skills.
I could do the same thing with my Xbox 360, and not play it online, but I like the games they're working on on that console that happen to be online.
Now if Nintendo pulled some app out of their ass that was NOT online but should be to the Nth degree that appeals to me, like SSBM/Mario Kart does to some, then yeah, they're going to have to get their act together. But as it stands, there's nothing Nintendo's done that I play that I would've enjoyed more or less for having online. Super Mario Bros. online does nothing for me. Gradius online, nope. Rtype? Nope. Super Metroid, nope. Contra/Ikari Warriors... Sure, but I don't miss it because co-op in those games isn't needed to make it any more or less fun.
Do-rock, I like the random matching service. If it keeps the friend codes in there, I'm totally down with random matching as an alternative. Tetris DS pulled this off rather well.
Like what you stated dvddesign, "... because co-op in those games isn't needed to make it any more or less fun."
Sure, the gameplay isn't impacted, but one of the cool things at the arcade was trying to get the high scores. This is what the 360 is getting right. I compete against my friends on XBL, not in gameplay, but by score.
That's whay I mean when I say 'They should make their games (and VC games) with some sort of online component'.
Now, as said before, they haven't 'officially' launched their online world yet, so we'll just have to wait and see.
I miss my XBOX friends.
Yes thats right, I made friends on XBOX LIVE, if you can believe that. I've never met them (probably won't in my lifetime), and I don't need to. We hop online, play games we share interest in, and go about our daily lives. Had it not been for LIVE I would have never gotten to know them, read some books, watched some movies, bought some kickass games.
Nintendo is LOSING potential customers because there is no online. Not just because people want it. Word of mouth carries more weight for me when it comes to games than some fucking website (sorry Dtoid, but its the truth, I still love you though, why are you looking at me like that? You know I do)
don't you mean a bowl?
a mean bowl of ramen?
Maybe it's some secret family recipe
I'm going to keep buying Wii stuff (whatever comes out, that is), but don't think that all hardcore Nintendo fans are happy about the online situation, Summa.