Cake Mania (DS) Review
Posted by Dan Owen on 05.06.2007
Can the successful PC game make the switch to the handheld gaming world?
Publisher: Majesco Entertainment
Developer: Digital Embryo
Platform: Nintendo DS
ESRB Rating: E
Price: $19.99
One of the most popular PC games comes to the DS in the fast-paced Cake Mania. Downloaded more than 35 million times, Cake Mania won the iParenting Media Award and the 2006 Casual Game of the Year Award from Yahoo Games. The first ever game from developer Digital Embryo attempts to translate the game’s online success into a successful handheld game, replacing the PC’s mouse with the DS’s stylus. Will the game translate well? Or will Cake Mania prove to be better suited for the internet gamer?
Graphics
Given the type of game that Cake Mania is, it is pretty easy to guess what the graphics look like. Full of bright, vibrant colors, the game does a good job of setting the tone for the style of game play. The cakes come in with four different colors of frosting, and each cake base has its own color as well. The colorings do a decent job of helping the player identify what needs to be done in order to make the cake the customer has ordered. However, there are times when the colors get a bit mixed together, especially since the brown frosting matches the color of the circular cake base, which will likely have you messing up more than a few orders.
That highlights one of the games biggest shortcomings: the images are too small. One can understand the problem Digital Embryo faced, trying to convert a game made for a computer screen onto a much smaller Nintendo DS screen. They did a poor job of converting the graphics, not really trying to change the images to be better sized for the DS. While trying to touch the toppers for the cakes (such as a candle), it can be very hard to hit the right one, and you have little time to switch it to the proper topper. This makes the gaming experience a bit more stressful than it should be. Also, as mentioned above, it can be hard to see what cake the customer wants, which will at times have you guessing a bit (something that can be very costly in this game).
You’ll have one cake machine, one frosting machine, and a slew of demanding customer to start the game.
Gameplay
The premise behind Cake Mania is that your grandparents sold their cake store to a big mega-mall type company while you were away at Culinary School. Your mission is to earn enough money from your own cake business to buy back the location. Each month (a month is one round of the game) you are given an amount of money you must reach in profits. The customers you have to serve range from antsy kids who want their cakes fast to poor college students who have great patience but not a lot of money to tip. Before each month, you are given a little “note” that hints at what kind of customers you will get. Knowing how your customers behave is a key to succeeding as the game progresses and adds a nice dimension to the game.
Another crucial piece of the game is upgrading your existing equipment as well as buying new stuff. The choice between adding a new frosting machine or upgrading that cake base maker you already have can be the key between winning and losing. Unfortunately you get very little help in making these decisions, and it can be frustrating having to sometimes load a save you’ve long since passed in order to change your purchases. As you fill up the screen with your purchased items, you will begin to notice the major shortcoming of the game, which we touched on earlier. The screen becomes cluttered with various things that can be clicked on, and hitting the right one can be difficult, especially when you add in the fact that you can’t see the full screen. The farthest edge of your store is shut out from your initial view, and you have to move toward it in order to get the screen to move over enough to see what you are doing. I threw a good number of cakes by accident when I blindly aimed for the toppings stations and hit the trash can instead.
Something that the game does benefit from greatly it the touch screen. It truly is amazing how well integrated the touch screen is, and it feels completely natural as you play this game. In fact, I might go as far as saying that the touch screen works better than the mouse does for this game. If you can get past the small icons, the controls are very well done and make the game quite interesting.
Your kitchen has plenty of room for upgrades, the question is which ones do you need the most?
Sound
Cake Mania is certainly not going to win any awards with its soundtrack. When playing the game, what you will mainly hear is the sounds of various events in the game: A customer entering the store, you grabbing the money they leave on the counter as payment, you beginning to bake a cake base, etc. The noises can help the player a little bit, giving them the heads up if someone has entered the store, but beyond that are of little value, since you know if you have hit the button to make a cake base. Once you progress in the game and you are moving faster, even the sound of a customer entering is worthless since there are so many other sounds going on that you can’t really do anything about it other than get over to them when you are available. The sounds will get annoying fast, so this is one of those games that you might want to keep the volume down on.
Feeling swamped? You can use the TV to keep customers happy so they don’t walk out on you.
Lasting Appeal
I have really mixed feelings for this category. One the one hand, this is a one trick pony. There is one style of play, and it really doesn’t change throughout the game. Things get faster and you are given less room for error, but in the end you are still performing the same tasks you were at the beginning of the game. In that sense, this doesn’t have that much lasting appeal at all.
However, the gameplay is addictive and fun. The fact that it doesn’t change almost adds to its appeal. It makes for a great “sitting on the bus with nothing else to do” type game, letting you play a low stress game that is fun, provides a moderate level of challenge, and can be pushed to the side at a moment’s notice. It’s more than likely that if you buy this game and enjoy it, you will find yourself coming back to play every once in a while, since a relaxing game never truly gets boring. Adding to the amount of things to do in this game is the expansion of Cake Mania, called Back to the Bakery, which is identical to the original game except for the story, which has you trying to turn the cake store into a more hip location.
You’ll all sorts of customers, from beachgoers and businessmen to Cupid and Count Dracula.
Fun Factor
This game takes some getting used to, but it’s one of those things that grows on you over time. At first, you will likely be frustrated with the small icons on the screen that forces you to scroll over to the side a bit in order to see the other side of the kitchen. It’s addictive to the highest degree and not overly intense. The control scheme translates very well over to the DS, and learning the ins and outs of the game won’t take you very long. I envision myself coming back to play this game once in a while possibly even 5 year from now, which is saying a lot.
The 411
This is a fun game, and I’ll find myself playing it for periods of time way longer than I was anticipating, as it is just that addicting. It’s one of those games that is so simplistic you can just sit down and enjoy it without really having to worry about any tough boss to beat or difficult puzzle to solve. This is a great game for a long bus or train ride, since you can relax while playing it, helping you unwind after the rigors of the day. Now, the game certainly is not great, and it will never win any awards. But it will grow on you the more you play it, and you will probably find yourself picking it up months after you’ve beaten it to start all over again.
Graphics
5.5
The color scheme is excellent, but things need to be bigger, especially the objects you have to touch.
Gameplay
8.5
Smooth integration of the touch screen and an easy to understand system.
Sound
4.0
You would probably be better of leaving the sound muted for this game.
Lasting Appeal
7.0
Only one style of play detracts from the lasting appeal, but you'll find yourself playing this game from time to time for months.
Fun Factor
8.0
An incredibly addictive game that grows on you over time, it's a great game to play in order to relax a bit.
