We had Cooking Mama, now we have Gardening Mama! (Gardening Mama (DS))

Member Name: julwhite

Product:	Gardening Mama (DS)
Date:	24/07/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun to play, good speech effects, interesting concept

Disadvantages: Mini games can be repetitive and sometimes awkward to control

This review is of the Nintendo DS game, Gardening Mama, developed by Cooking Mama and published by Majesco and Taito. This game is from the Cooking Mama series, and involves building up and tending your own virtual garden.

The game play involves trying to grow your own plants in a garden, including flowers, vegetables and fruit. There is a wide range of different plants to be able to grow, which does all have an educational side to it. You play numerous mini games, which you are then rated on as a percentage and give a gold, silver or bronze award, similar in principle to the Cooking Mama game.

There are lots of these mini games to play through, which generally do require the stylus, although occasionally use the microphone, so at least the game has clearly taken into account the features of the Nintendo DS. The mini games themselves can also become a bit repetitive after a while however, which does limit the long term appeal of the whole game.

The mini games are though let down by often being difficult to control, as although in principle using the stylus seems like an easy control method, it can be frustrating when the console doesn't react in the way that you would like. The controls generally do let the game down, as it is a common problem, and even after playing the game for a while, I couldn't master some elements of the game.

If you perform well in each level, you're given bonuses, and for every three of these you obtain, you can access more unlockable content. This might be different clothes and accesories for your Gardening Mama or more accessories for use in the garden, evening including gnomes for example. These little extra to give the game a more long lasting touch, and work well in encouraging you try just that bit harder!

The graphics in the game are reasonable, they're not exceptional, but they're sufficient to be able to play and enjoy the game. The sound effects are also fun, as are the voice effects of Mama, who lets you know how you're performing in her own distinctive way.

The multi player element of the game is reasonable, and you can join with three other players to complete in various different mini games. You're also able to swap the unlocked elements you've obtained in your game with other players. The developers have chosen the very positive route of only making you need one cartridge between the players, rather than everyone needing their own copy of the game. Unfortunately, the mini games which you take part in are just little extras to the game, and in themselves aren't really that entertaining.

The game retails for 29.99 pounds, but is currently available on Amazon for 26.99 pounds. If you're happy with a second-hand copy, these are at the time of writing available for around twelve pounds on sites such as eBay and Amazon. The game is rated as 3+, so is suitable for children of nearly all ages.

In summary, if you were a fan of the Cooking Mama series, this is a game that you should consider getting, at it's the same principle, just used in a different environment. The game is quite fun to play, but elements of the game do become repetitive after a while, which makes the game play just generally frustrating. It's quite an expensive game, and didn't offer me as many playing hours as other titles, but it's worth a look, and maybe there will be a Gardening Mama 2 to improve some of the game's failings.

Summary: A bit expensive, but worth it if you enjoyed the Cooking Mama series