Games for Lunch: Personal Trainer: Cooking
In a nutshell: It will personally train you to cook.
12/30/2008 6:42 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: Nov. 24, 2008
System: Nintendo DS
ESRB Rating: E
Official Web site
0:00 I am definitely not a natural in the kitchen, so I'm hoping this game will help make me less reluctant to hover over a range.
0:01 The game starts with an all-purpose warning about raw meat, seafood, eggs, food allergies, letting kids cook and using oven mitts. OK then!
0:02 "Welcome to
Personal Trainer: Cooking," says the black-and-white, hand-drawn chef on-screen. "Before we go any further, please adjust my voice to the speed you like." There's a slider on the touch-screen. The slowest and fastest speeds are pretty awful-sounding. The default seems all right to my wife and me...
0:03 "Getting ready. Don't touch the power button." This chef's voice is nice and soothing. On the top screen, the unnamed chef (let's call him Mr. Chef) dances back and forth. "You're ready to start cooking tasty dishes from all over the world!" Damn right I am!
0:05 The game points us to the "Important Points" section of "Cooking A-Z." This includes important tips like "Amounts of cheese are estimates." and "How to hold a kitchen knife." Nice photos to accompany, but I don't think we're THAT hopeless.
0:07 Off to the recipes section to pick something to eat. We choose to browse by country, but you can also go by ingredients and dietary requirements. I'm amazed at the selection of available countries: U.S., Peru, Argentina, Portugal, Spain, UK, France, Belgium, Switzerland, North Africa (which is apparently a country), Italy, Germany, Scandinavia, Austria, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Russia, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, South Korea, Japan, "Australasia" and Mexico. 245 recipes in all! We decide to be brave and try France, which has 30-plus recipes.
0:10 "France prides itself on its tradition of gourmet cuisine," reads a message on the top screen. "From the famous dairy products of Normandy in the north to the herb and olive-based dishes of mountainous Provence in the South, French cuisine is exceptionally rich in regional variation." As we scroll on the bottom screen, the top screen shows a picture of the completed dish, along with the number of calories and estimated prep time. Of course, the ones that look the best have the most calories...
0:12 After a first pass, we're considering the following: Chicken Morengo, Coq au Vin, Scallops with Garlic Butter, Gratin Dauphinois (cheesy potatoes), Stuffed Tomatoes and an Onion Tart. We somehow resist the delicious-looking Chocolate Mousse and Pound Cake. "That's the end of France," Michelle says, ominously.
0:17 We settle on the Stuffed Tomatoes after much debate. One serving equals one tomato. We're hungry enough for three, probably, but we can only choose one, two or four servings. D'oh! We choose one and multiply!
0:18 A list of ingredients comes on-screen and we check off the ones we don't have in the house already. We also look through the needed cooking utensils. A cooking scale is apparently "essential," but we don't have one. We'll muddle through, I guess.
0:21 With the shopping list complete, it's off to the market to buy the ingredients. I'll pause the timer here since the game is technically in standby.
