Cooking Guide- Can't Decide What to Eat (Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat? (DS))

Member Name: doggydogfoot

Product:	Cooking Guide: Can't Decide What to Eat? (DS)
Date:	04/09/08 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to use, gets you cooking

Disadvantages: none

Don't confuse this game with cooking mama as it is nothing like cooking mama what so ever. This game actually contains real life recipies and also a few tutorials on how to cook! I refer to this game as a game but don't get confused, cooking guide is not a game it is like a cooking book with recipies, list of ingredients and different techniques.

Cooking A-Z
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is like a cooking dictionary. It contains things like big lists of what every ingredient is, substitute ingredients, utensils, preparation, chopping and cutting terminology, helpful tips, home made ingredients (and how to make them), important points and example videos ( like how to fillet a fish, wrap a sushi). This part of te game is really useful for any beginner who needs to get to grips with all the cooking mumbo jumbo.

Shopping list
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you select a recipe or ingredient you can put it onto your shopping list, this way when you go shopping you can put the exact amounts of the things you need and you don't forget. It also has a handy calculator.

Cooking Guide
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the main body of the game here you find all the recipies. There are 245 recipies from seafood to desert. You can search the recipies by country by viewing the world map and tapping on the countries to see the recipies. Or you can choose the recipe by ingredient, for example if you only have eggs at home it will show you all te recipies that you can make with egg. I find that this option is really helpful. If you want a more advanced search you can find the recipies according to difficulty, main ingredient, cooking method, calories and cooking time.

The recipies
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The recipies range from the most commonest of foods like fish and chips to some really exotic food that you have never hear about before-great for the experimental cook. When you select the recipe that you want to make you can view the cooking time, calories and the ingredients. You can adjust the quantities of the recipe for different numbers of people; usually up to 6. After you gather all the ingredients you can view the steps, this gives a brief overview on how to make the recipe. Once you have skimmed trough this you move onto the actual cooking. This part is the fun part, you a voice from the ds tells you what to do and how to do it, there are also pictures to help you along the way. You talk to the ds if you want to continue, repeat the step or go back, you can use the stylus if you wish. This is really convinient as your hands can get messy whilst cooking so it is great that you don;t have to touch it. However i find that sometimes the ds gets a bit confused when it hears all the noises whilst cooking so it may end up doing its own thing. The instructions given are really simple, clear and easy to understand. When you finish your recipe you can put a stamp on the date. You can also write notes on the recipe if you want to mention something about it.

All the recipes have a small description about them so you know what each one is like, it doesn't leave you in the dark.

Graphics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All the graphics in this game are excellent, it is a mixture of real life video (great quality), photos and cartoon. All the recipies have got real life photos so you know exactly what the food looks like and are not left guessing.

Layout
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I found the layout really simple and clear, it is really easy to use. Somre games have too many options crammed onto the same page, however this game has quite a clean finish and hence it doesn't take long to work out how to use the game.

Overall
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I loved this game, i even tried making a few recipies myself which turned out quite well. I would never have made them if i didn't have this game. I think that this game is great to have if you are short of time but want to have really good varied food, you can easily orgainse your shopping list and adjust the portion sizes. I think that this game definitely gets you cooking and trying different things out, it gives you a lot of confidence as you know what you are aiming for and you are guided step by step. I would definitely recommend this great game if you are even slightly interested in cooking.

This game is worth every penny you pay for it as it is so helpful.

Summary: i absolutely loved this game