Anybody remember when the Chicago Bulls acquired Horace Grant?
How about when the Red Sox added Jason Veritek to the team?
Remember when Scotty Bowman, who has the coach and GM for the 1997 champion Detroit Red Wings, signed Chris Draper for literally one dollar?
These are all examples of the "low risk, high reward" scenario. Taking a small risk on a seemingly insignificant "thing," only to have it create a huge return.
Uh, Rob, I hate to interrupt you, but this is a video game review.
Oh, yeah, sorry. Actually, I'm pontificating because my thoughts on Cooking Mama are quite simple. It's a unique game which is somewhat fun in small doses but is worth trying due to its $20 price tag. Okay, got it?
What I really wanted to write about, however, is how this is a "low risk, high reward" move for Majesco, who desperately needs a few of these. It is low risk because Cooking Mama is simply a translation of a Japanese DS game. Normally this type of game would get about as much attention in America as a health food store in Wisconsin, but Majesco wisely figured that the DS was becoming known for quirky game ideas, so they took small gamble.
Did it work? Well.....
The game opened up #1 on the sales charts, beating out a Mario game.
Wha!?!? WTF dude! Cooking is teh sux0r!
I like cooking, but I would agree that it is not a 733t thing to do with your gaming time. But Cooking Mama is actually pretty decent. Using the stylus to chop, mix, fry, stir, and other things to various plates of Japanese cuisine, I found it remarkable that this game actually imparts real knowledge on how to make the food that's on the menu. One could, conceivably, actually make the real deal based on the game's methods.
However, the game gets a bit old, as it was obviously meant to be played a few minutes at a time by (gamer stereotype alert!) little sisters and moms. Not saying that I was expecting Final Fantasy VII, but even Brain Age had certain things that kept you coming back for more. I could be biased, also, by "hard core gamer's disease," which translates into "a snobbery towards casual games." So take me thoughts with the appropriate salt grainage.
Anyways.... kudos to Majesco for essentially signing the gaming version of Tom Rathman and Bill Laimbeer into their lineup. A few more of these, and they can finally post a profitable quarter to their suffering stock holders.
Grade: C.