Cooking Mama: Cookstar Critic Reviews

As somebody who suffered through the middling Sweet Shop, who grew irate at the cynical cash-grab of a mobile game, and who wanted fresh blood in this series again, Cookstar delivers - and then some. I haven't been able to put this thing down, and it's taken valuable hours away from Animal Crossing, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and quite a few others.

While there’s definitely room for improvement and expansion, I can see kids liking this game quite a bit. There’s plenty to unlock, and hearing that you did something better than Mama brings a smile. As someone new to the series, Cooking Mama: Cookstar felt reasonably fresh to me. But vets may find it more so resembles leftovers. Hopefully, the rights holder and publisher can work things out.

Cooking Mama: Cookstar is a solid if predictable entry in the series that provides a decent amount of fun and content for the cost, but not much else.

All of this writing might be for nothing as the odds of most people being able to play Cookstar seem low. The digital version is still vapor and physical copies are unavailable from the publisher and the majority of retailers. It’s unclear if Cookstar will warrant fans selling entire Switch consoles with the game downloaded as was the case with the Silent Hills Playable Teaser on PlayStation 4, but it nevertheless might take extraordinary measures for the average fan to play Cookstar. For those who do get the chance, especially if they’re a fan of Cooking Mama, they can do a lot worse. For everyone else, this is a mostly middling effort that might have risen above with greater polish and ambition from all involved.

In terms of what is on offer for a veteran gamer or someone who is familiar with the franchise, you will find this is a lacking option with not a lot of change, variation, or improvements. Motion control issues hamper the experience for anyone going for full completion, and the rest of what you see will remind you of one of the Wii-era titles in the series straight from 2007. As a family game, Cooking Mama: Cookstar offers a serviceable experience for your children for an evening.

The odds are quite good that you will never get the chance to play Cooking Mama: Cookstar, and that’s probably for the best. Beyond its status as a curiosity item in the wake of the mess surrounding its release, there is absolutely nothing about Cooking Mama: Cookstar that justifies the price of admission. Extremely shallow gameplay, terrible motion controls, and some of the worst voice acting we’ve heard in a modern video game make for an experience that’s woefully average at best and outright unenjoyable at the worst. If you happen to be fortunate enough to come across a copy, you could always pick it up purely for its resale value and as a conversation piece, but do yourself a favour and don’t waste your time actually playing it.

Cooking Mama: Cookstar is bogged down by monotony, poor motion controls, nightmarish voice acting, and practically nothing new to offer. Whether it’s the lack of consequences for failure, the obnoxious voice acting, the bland single-player modes, the lackluster multiplayer minigames, or the complete lack of meaningful progression, Cooking Mama: Cookstar is a tedious game that does almost nothing well.

If you’re even able to find a copy of Cooking Mama: Cookstar, you should probably reconsider where you’re spending your money. I know there’s a fanbase for the series that are vehemently wishing that the game will be good and that the bizarre story behind its release is all just an unlucky set of circumstances. But the fact of the matter is, Cookstar has nuked the kitchen and left us standing among a snowfall of ash and burnt Chicken Tikka Masala. I hate to say it, but the series may be cooked.

Cooking Mama: Cookstar is a mess, and isn’t worth the controversy around its release. There is little to no reward for success, or even for trying. The motion controls don’t work. The content is often recycled from past games. The fact that it was somehow released in this state is kind of interesting, and physical copies may become collector’s items, but that will only be due to their rarity, not any value in the game itself.