Gamertell

Title: Order Up
Price: $39.99
System(s): Wii
Release Date: July 22, 2008
Publisher (Developer): Zoo Games (SuperVillain Studios)
ESRB Rating: “Everyone” for Comic Mischief
Pros: It expands upon the “cooking” game genre by adding in restaurant management.
Cons: Strange character art isn’t for everyone. Cooking can quickly become a chore. Instructions for using new items isn’t always provided. Occasional loading glitches.
Overall Score: Two thumbs sideways, 70/100, C-, ** out of 5

Order Up! is a game that will often be mistaken for a Cooking Mama rip-off. While the minigames have some similar elements, they go in two different directions when it comes to gameplay and execution. Also, while Cooking Mama can actually be entertaining, Order Up! becomes quite tedious. Order Up! tries to be lighthearted and offer a new gaming experience but it gets old quick…

Click through for the full review!

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The cavalcade of cooking games continues - Zoo Games has just released Order Up! for the Wii. The new game will allow players to multitask and focus not only on cooking, but also on manage a restaurant and hire more chefs to help out.

It seems like Order Up! is a collection of cooking mini-games, organized in a manner that offers some story for players. Perhaps it will impart a sense of purpose which the Cooking Mama games didn’t possess. The game comes with 80 different recipes to cook up and four different restaurants to manage.

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Once upon a time videogames were all about blasting space aliens, breaking bricks, kicking ass as a ninja and/or saving a princess. Now, it seems like every activity imaginable has a videogame, from cheer leading to dog grooming to gardening. This is best exemplified by the insane popularity of cooking/food-based games, a genre that was practically single-handedly invented by a little DS game three years ago called Cooking Mama.

The title was immediately popular on the casual-friendly DS, and went on to spawn several sequels and tons of similar games, including other TV tie-ins like Hell’s Kitchen and Iron Chef, paved the way for more novel ideas like the cookbook software Cooking Navi, upcoming restaurant sim Order Up, and the more casual imitators, like the Cakemania series. Right now, cooking games are everywhere you look - you can hardly shake a rolling pin in a game aisle without knocking down something tasty-looking. But why the sudden kitchen invasion? I have a few theories.

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Cooking Mama frustrated quite a few people because it provided fun dishes to make, but never told exactly how they were created. Apparently Atari decided that it needed to remedy that situation, and it has - with the help of The Naked Chef Jamie Oliver. At E3 the company announced the forthcoming DS “game”, What’s Cooking? with Jamie Oliver. It will be available Winter 2008.

What’s Cooking? with Jamie Oliver is more like an educational program, with some occasional mini-games tossed in. There are 100 of Jamie Oliver’s recipes included in the game, with pictures of each one, voice recognition so you can find out what is next without having to touch the DS with dirty hands, a built in shopping list, cooking mini-games, the ability to put 100 of your own recipes in the game and the ability to share your personal recipes with others over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection.

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FROM APPLETELL - Grab your chef’s hat, put on your oven mitts it’s time to start cooking! In the game Cooking Academy you’ll be able to test out your culinary skills in the kitchens of a prestigious culinary school. You have the chance to prepare eggrolls, gyoza, pancakes, crème brulee and many more.… MORE »