Customer Reviews

Gardening Mama

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I got this game since I previously played Cooking Mama and Cooking Mama 2 (Dinner With Friends) and I was very excited about it. Now I've played it a few times, I'm very happy to have gotten it. With this game if you have previously played either of the Cooking Mama games, then you'll probably have an idea of what to expect. The format isn't greatly different from them, it's still very easy to pick up and figure out.

What I love about these games are, kids can have so much fun with them but an adult can also have a go too. Some of the task may be a little easy for an adult but some may not be (especially if you're going for gold).

If you haven't played any of the Cooking Mama games, then the style of the game is a little something like this, your goal is to plant something, such as a tulip but its broken down into stages, seeding, digging a hole, and so on. Theres nice obvious instructions on what to do for each task that needs to be done in order to plant something. There is also directions for you to follow, which is very helpful. My cousin loves this game too as it gives her an idea of how to garden, in a fun way. :D

Mama is back! And this time she has traded in her whisk for a shovel! That's right..Mama gardens now!

The setup is virtually the same as in Cooking Mama. You garden things and then you get a grade for it. There are a couple changes that are worth noting however:
One bonus is that the game is in bird's eye view; you get to roam the garden and select what you want to grow. More options become available as you progress and your garden expands into new areas. You also get more plants to grow as you go along.
Another nice thing is that you can change Mama's outfits and even decorate your garden with the bonus prizes you earn. This is fun when you want to take a break from gardening.

The major difference with Gardening Mama from Cooking Mama is that instead of just cooking a dish and being done you have to allow your plants to grow. So when you garden something you are not done for a while. There are many steps to garden until you get a finished product. Sometimes you can even make food from a plant. It can get kind of annoying waiting for plants to grow because you have to watch them. If you forget about one Mama will come on the screen and alert you, which gets tedious. But other than that waiting for plants isn't too bad.

I would recommend this game for any Cooking Mama fan or anyone wanting to try out the series. It is very fun alone or in single-card download mode. The developers have been consistent with the look and gameplay of the series, which keeps it familiar yet still refreshing. A must for all Mama fans!

Let me first say that I love the Cooking Mama games. I've played almost all of the games that are out there multiple times- they're just fun to replay, so I knew what I would be getting myself into when I purchased this game.

Game Synopsis: Gardening Mama takes our favorite gaming character out of the kitchen & into the garden as you attempt to grow a wide variety of flowers, vegetables, & trees.

PROS
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1) This game is incredibly simple to play. The directions are pretty clear & less gifted players will still be able to keep up with everything.

2) There's a wide variety of plants to be grown in this game, from roses to cosmos to grapes. You won't lack for things to do.


CONS
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1) Too much repetition. While there was a ton of repetition in the previous CM games, it was never as obvious as it was for this game. It's fun but a lot of it gets REALLY old after a while, which will cause many gamers to put this game to the side rather than try to play & beat it over a few days like they would the other CM games.

2) It might have been my DS, but game play was occasionally sluggish- most notably in the bonus screens & whenever I went to change things in the game like Mama's outfit. Since CM2 wasn't that slow, I was surprised to see how sluggish this was.


I also sort of had an issue with having to go back & forth between plants, but I was mostly ambivalent about that. It just got a little old when I had to do one part of my gladiolas, then go to the map & visit the orchard in order to work on my apples. There's a lot of fun to be had in this game overall, but for me the repetition REALLY got on my nerves after a while. You'll raise some flowers & everything will be the same except for the name of the plant you are growing.

Overall this is still a fun game, just not as fun as the regular CM games. It's worth playing, but I'd look for a previously played copy rather than a brand spanking new one.

I bought cooking mama, though I have not had time to play it *yet*. I have, however, played it on iphones in the store and was immediately in love. I sprung for the DS version as I read that it is longer and a better value. That being said...

I was given Gardening Mama just last night and was thrilled. (I love plants as much as I am into cooking.)

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I opened it up straight away and popped it into the DS. The first things I noticed were:

1. A color scheme that, unlike the cover image, was various shades of pinks and peach and yellow, which made menus and such hard to read. (The cover image shows bright, distinct colors. Lots of variance.) = headache

2. The menu options SHAKE (or dance, if you will). In an annoying way, like someone waving something under your nose and saying, "lookit! look it! look what i havvvvvvve!!! can you see it, can you see eeeeeet?" Added to the already difficult to read menu, the added feature of shaking.......... = HEADACHE

3. Still wanting to love this game, I ventured onward, figuring that once I got used to the game, I wouldn't actually need to read the menu. I would just know which region of the screen to tap. So I started a game. MOAR SHAKING MENU ITEMS AND INSTRUCTIONS. At this point I am getting downright irritated with whatever person on the design team that decided that this was a GOOD idea. Like I want to smack them, or force *them* to stare at the menus and such until they get the same headache I am getting. (Maybe this only affects people who are prone to getting motionsick. I don't know.)

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As for the gameplay, I think it feels pretty similar to what you could expect from Cooking Mama, which is to say, you won't always know what you are expected to do but you eventually figure it out. There is a practice mode also which is great for that 'figuring it out' stage.

I think that this game has a lot of promise. Unfortunately, for some, that promise might include a tension headache. :(

I like most others that have reviewed this item, loved the Cooking Mama games. I figured since I liked those then I would definitely like this game, boy was I right. This game is very fun, and addictive. I have to say that I like it better than the cooking mama games. It is set up alittle different than the cooking mama games but nothing major to make it difficult to play.
In this game you will grow different kinds of flowers, vegetables, and fruit. You receive gifts as you do things to get your plants to grow. It's a really nice addictive game. I have had this game for about a month now, and still have not completed the game, and I play it every night for at least 1/2 hour before I go to bed. If you liked the cooking mama games, and enjoy action/arcade/time management games you will really enjoy this game and will not be disappointed!!

I bought this game for my 7 year old daughter who LOVED cooking mama. Gardening mama is another big hit. It is very similar to cooking mama in that there are multiple steps involved in each "mission". The best thing about this game is that it DOES have multiplayer minigame capability....and you don't have to buy an extra game card to access it. So with 3 Nintendo DS 's in our house, it's nice to have a game that the kids and I can play together.

I picked up Gardening Mama just a few days ago when I broke down and bought myself a DSi. I had never played Cooking Mama, but when that game had first come out on the DS I was working at EB Games/Gamestop and I remember how popular it was. Since I like flowers and I assumed it was based off of the popular Cooking Mama, I picked it up and tried it out later that day. I played it while doing laundry, and before I realized it THREE HOURS had gone by! The game really is fun, and quite addicting! I'm hoping to pick up the original Cooking Mama soon.

Bought this for my 8 year old daughter for her birthday. She had the Cooking Mama and loves it, so for her birthday she wanted the Gardening Mama. She enjoys playing it, although she does play the Cooking Mama more.

I have all of the other Mama games, and I think that "Gardening Mama" is the most innovative. I like how you can wander around and look at your gardens, and it's fun how you can harvest the food and then start all over again! The only thing that would make it a little better would be if you could make food or drink out of the food you grow. (Ex: Wine out of the grapes, apple cider out of the apples, strawberry jam out of the strawberries.) But I like that it's a little more challenging. The way your crop turns out depends on how well you did. If your food doesn't look ripe enough, it makes you want to try harder next time.

It's a little different than the other Mama games, but I like it that way.

I have two black thumbs. My daughter, however, loves to grow things, and even though I try to foster her love of growing things in real life, unfortunately most of the things that we try to grow here really don't do well, so she tends to do her growing at Grammy's house (grammy has two green thumbs). But I wanted her to have something fun at home where she can be a gardener, and this game is it! Gardening Mama allows my five year old to grow tons of different things - from fruits to vegetables and, of course, her favorite, flowers! It's a great game for a young child and one of the best things about it is that it doesn't get old. She'll stop playing it for a month or so, then pick it up and play it for a week, making it a great purchase.