I did a review a little bit ago about another cooking game that I was playing assuming that there was not a Cooking Mama for mobile yet. I don't know why I assumed this because of course there is Cooking Mama: Lets Cook! by Office Create. I went ahead and grabbed it and gave it a go.
The Game:
Cooking Mama is a pretty simple game where you will do exactly what the title tells you and that is cook. You will select from the available recipes and those recipes will be divided up into stages. In the different stages, you will perform some action such as swiping your phone in a direction or making circles to replicate meal preparation. Depending on your timing and the way you perform an action you are scored by on 3-star scale.
You can take your finished dishes and sell them in your restaurant. You will start out with the ability to sell one item and server up to 4 people but this can grow as you level up.
The game offers an in-game gold currency, which you gain through completing items or serving guests who sometimes will gift it. There is also the chance to earn some in between games by watching an ad. You can use this currency to rent items to make for 24 hours or buy more things for your restaurant.
The recipes come in packs from $.99 to bundle at $15. You will gain cards levels by purchasing recipes, which awards more coins at the ended of a completed recipe.
My Thoughts:
It was brought to a mobile platform and Cooking Mama did not escape the mobile treatment. Rather than a nice interface when you log in you are greeted with several pop-ups and opportunities to watch ads. You are also presented with chances to watch ads between each step of a meal and for several other reasons. Ads for other crap mobile games that I am sure if you have ever played a mobile game with the ad features you know what to expect. This doesn't kill the game though. Maybe I am just so used to seeing them that I was just able to shrug my shoulders and move.The actual gameplay itself is not bad. Like you have done in Cooking Mamas of the past you will be playing mini-games that replicate the actions you would be taking if you were actually to cook the item in real life. The controls were pretty responsive on an S8+. Whether you are sifting flour, mixing a batter, or kneading dough the controls allow you to do so. It's all about finding that sweet spot of filling up the action bar before time runs out.
The restaurant aspect reminds me of older mobile games where you are a restaurant manager. It's not too terribly engaging and I found myself really bored actually performing the actions of seating guests and serving them. It will allow you to do this for as long as your food lasts, which is on a timer, but really who wants to spend 15+ minutes doing the mundane task. Luckily there is an auto-feature at level 3 and it looks to run the restaurant without you when you put the phone down.
There is a lot of customization allowed in this game, which makes it feel unique to how you want your avatar or your restaurant to look. Although I do have to say the way the tables and seats work kind of restrict your floor layout for your restaurant. The graphics are ok but this game was never known for that or the soundtrack either. The weird "That's almost better than Mama" script that runs when you three star something sounds like it was said with peanut butter stuck to the roof of their mouth. You can play without sound and lose nothing.
This is a Cooking Mama light experience but it is still a decent experience. The price point for a pack of foods isn't terrible so if you find yourself enjoying what you are doing you can drop a dollar here and there to get the full library. It's not a game that feels like its fleecing you. It feels pretty fair.
TL;DR:
Cooking Mama: Let's Cook is a light Cooking Mama game for the mobile. It's not incredibly deep but it something light to pass the time. It's not a really flashy game but its also not very expensive if you decide you want to make more recipes.
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