Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends offers up most of the same simplistic, addictive gameplay that fans of the series love with a few twists, namely multiplayer action and new recipes. It's a great title for short gaming sessions, definitely tops the cutesy chart, and boasts those same adorable visuals and step-by-step cooking minigames that fans are familiar with. However, Mama's latest expedition feels more like an extension of the original rather than a true sequel and certainly isn't for the traditional hardcore gamer (it's also incredibly easy), but if you're into food and light gameplay (and especially if you haven't played the original) then it's a go; otherwise it's a rent, if that.



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Cooking Mama 2 is yet another easy, pick-up-and-play title from Majesco and is centered around cooking for your Mama; to up the ante the company added new recipes for a total of 80 delicious dishes for the player to experiment with beginning in "Cook with Mama" mode. This mode provides the traditional Cooking Mama experience, featuring every possible step you can imagine in the creation of each of the 80 dishes. Players progress step-by-step via completing recipe minigames, ranging from cracking eggs, stirring ingredients, grilling meats, pouring various liquids, and peeling apples to folding crepes, setting the oven (yes, setting the oven is a minigame), and blowing into the DS mic to cool off food.

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If you're feeling especially creative you'll occasionally have the opportunity to decorate your dish for presentation to Mama, but most of the minigames are straight-forward and relatively quick: stir this, cut that, sprinkle this, fold that, stick it in the oven and viola - dish #whatever is served. If you screw up a step there's no need to worry as Mama, ever your protector, will step in and "correct" the recipe (an expensive feat in the real world), although her flaming devil eyes seem to suggest otherwise. If Mama approves of your dish she'll reward you with either a bronze, silver, or gold medal and the option of saving your record for the dish in a diary that you can decorate with a "seal" (an icon) and keep forever in digital memory. If the overall gameplay sounds too simple and easy, it is, and this is a definite fault when you're really re-playing the original.

If you tire of cooking for Mama you can switch to the "Let's Cook!" mode and start prepping dishes for your childhood friends with very discriminating tastes (I'm not accustomed to children actually knowing what rice rolls and crepes are; in fact I'm not accustomed to children demanding any food but cookies and candy, but apparently Mama's little friends boast a bit more class). Spilling ingredients, burning the food, forgetting to blow on your dish's contents as you're preparing your stew/sauce, or failing to correctly prepare the lobster/shrimp/etc within the time-limit will result in a ruined dish as Mama declines to cover for you when you're showing her up in her own kitchen, so any major mistake means a do-over. If you're successful in whipping up delightful treats for Mama and pals, however, you'll unlock new recipes and accessories for decorating your very own Mama. If you've ever looked at your mother and wanted nothing more than to give her a make-over but couldn't without getting slapped, Mama is a perfect substitute. You can also renovate the kitchen (change the clock, cabinet, counter, or window sill color) if you're in the mood

The third and final mode, "Cooking Contest," is Office Create's newest addition to the series and features multiplayer, ad-hoc gameplay (that is, you can play with up to two other friends assuming you all possess a DS unit and a copy of the game). I'm at a loss as to why a game this graphically simplistic couldn't include infrastructure/online cooking matches that would have justified the purchase of Cooking Mama 2 for those who already own the original, but alas, the option was left out. The "Cooking Contest" mode also features solo challenges for those who prefer to compete against their past records.

While there are very few faults to be found in Mama's latest culinary adventure (other than it's essentially the same game as the original), its controls are sometimes a smidgen too sensitive or delay the action (I always have a hell of a time pouring liquids, and once you stop prematurely you might as well give up, as you won't be able to stop pouring fast enough after you start again to prevent the contents from overflowing). There are also some recipes that have way too many steps; some of these steps are so incredibly simple that it's actually easier and makes much more sense to combine them as their separation actually distracts from the gameplay.

Cooking Mama 2 is a charming game with adorable visuals and cute, looped music that pairs nicely with its simple style and quick gameplay sessions, but its baffling lack of online multiplayer along with few gameplay options and the fact that Cooking Mama 2 is essentially Cooking Mama 1 all cost it some major points. If you're curious it's worth a look, though.

Publisher: Majesco
Developer: Office Create
Release: Nov 13, 2007
MSRP: $29.99
Everyone | Ad-hoc play

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