Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends Critic Reviews

While it's not a huge step up from last time, the added modes make it a more complete experience.

Even if you haven't played the original, this title is worth a look unless you are completely adverse to minigames and/or bright colors and cute graphics.

Cooking Mama 2: Dinner With Friends is much like its predecessor - it is perfectly tuned for non-hardcore gamers and therefore frustrating to those used to evaluating games designed with that audience in mind.

A sugar rush of mini-game madness.

Mama herself is a charming guide through the apparently one-room world of cooking, and each challenge she throws your way will have you poking and prodding until you're beside yourself with glee.

Simple and more-ish, Cooking Mama 2 serves up a universally playable challenge.

An improvement on the first.

Even with its quirks, I find it hard to put the game down -- it's so easy and fun to hop back in and whip up a couple quick, satisfying dishes. In its silly simplicity, Cooking Mama does what many can't: keep me heading back to the kitchen for one more snack.

In its silly simplicity, Cooking mama does what many can't: keep me heading back to the kitchen for one more snack.

Offering tons of variety and some nifty cooking controls, Mama is ready to challenge our stylus skills once again through her cooking mini games... and this time, she has brought along her friends to test us and see if her meal guidance is paying off.

As much content was added, it still feels like beneath it all, it's more or less the same game: High quality, but eventually, you're going to get over it. I'd say it's a buy it or rent it title based on your love of the series itself.

A great, fun, and family friendly game.

There aren't a lot of major changes to the original formula. At its core, it's essentially the same game only a bit better.

It’s the best game in the series so far, but it’s not really that greatly improved over the original, and it still seems like a missed opportunity to make something that really, well, cooks. It’ll be enjoyable for young food enthusiasts, but everyone else will probably want to wait until mama gets a bit more serious about cooking.

When it comes right down to it this game is perfect for the newbies out there that have only heard of Cooking Mama and have wanted to try it out. But for those of you that invested time in the original game, it may be best to stay with that one, as this offers nothing new for you.

Cooking Mama is not a bad game. In fact, it is perfectly suited for the DS as the mini games are fun, entertaining, and short.

Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends feels like a second helping of the first game, rather than a new dish, but that doesn’t make it any less tasty.

Cooking Mama 2 doesn’t really bring anything new to the dinner table, but that’s not really a bad thing. It just offers a heaping helping more of the gameplay fans of the original game fell in love with, and chances are, most will find that filling enough.

The game isn't perfect--the game still has trouble picking up your commands on the touchscreen at times and some tasks require numerous tries before you can even figure out what to do--but Cooking Mama 2 is a winner without a shadow of a doubt. Every gamer, from the hardcore to the casual, should put in some time with this one.

This is worth a look for Cooking Mama noobs, but veterans might find it a little stale.