Cake Mania impressions (the modern-day incarnation of Root Beer Tapper hits the DS)

[DaBargainHunta]

Upon hearing that Cake Mania was a lot like the classic Tapper/Root Beer Tapper, I immediately became intrigued and wanted to check it out for myself.

Thankfully, like Puzzle Quest and Trioncube, there was a PC demo for me to try out before I took the plunge on the DS version. Of course, in this case, there's an online demo because the game was originally a popular and successful PC release.

You can try it out here: http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=cakemania

Needless to say, I downloaded it and loved it. 2-3 days later, I picked up the DS version.

I can happily report that it's pretty much exact to the original PC game (at least from the 2-3 levels I played of the demo). In the PC version, you used your mouse to control everything. On the DS, the mouse is obviously replaced by the touchscreen and stylus. All in all, as you'd expect, it's a pretty seamless transition in terms of control.

Of course, some things are moved around to accomodate both DS screens and minor things of that nature. The kitchen doesn't quite display fully on the bottom DS screen, but that hasn't been a problem for me thus far. The layout of the kitchen is pretty simple, so you generally know what's going on even if something is slightly off-screen. Of course, you can scroll to the other side of the kitchen easily enough.

As you may (or may not) have noticed, this game has gotten a major drumming from IGN and Gamespot. Those two sites panning a good game? Shock and awe! Why, that's [i]never[/b] happened before!

So, you're wondering, how exactly is this like Root Beer Tapper? Well, it's actually a more complex version of that game - but the core play mechanics are basically the same.

In Tapper, you simply had to serve beer to impatient customers and grab the empty mugs before they crashed and broke. It was frantic in a more minimalist way. Cake Mania complicates the proceedings a bit but keeps the same level of frenzy.

This is the basic formula:

1. Hand customers a menu
2. Wait for them to place an order
3. Put the cake they want in the oven
4. Take it out of the oven and put the correct icing on it
5. Decorate the cake, if need be (this comes into play after a few "months")
6. Hand it to the customer
7. Collect cash (this part isn't time-intensive, I don't think)

You can also do things like give free cupcakes to customers while they're waiitng (if you buy a microwave from the store - but more on that in a bit), and there may be other wrinkles added to the cake-baking gameplay later on - but that's the basic gist of it.

As you can probably imagine, this gets hectic when you're juggling multiple customers. If they get tired of waiting, they'll walk right out the door - leaving you with a fully-baked cake and no one to give it to. Of course, you can always display that cake and hope someone else wants it (or just throw it away).

That brings me to the store option. In addition to the aforementioned cake display tray and microwave for cupcakes, you can also buy more ovens and icing machines, upgrade them, etc. This is a fun feature.

I'm having a blast with the game, but I think the IGNs and Gamespots of the world were expecting something else entirely - a cake-baking sim, perhaps? Well, this isn't Cooking Mama. It's a simple, old-school test of speed and reflexes where you have to get into the groove, find your rhythm, and just GO!

It's a fun, charming little experience - but it's definitely a throwback to another era. If you weren't around in the heyday of the 2600 (or maybe even the NES), your mileage may vary. I personally like it a lot.

[Sweater Fish Deluxe]

Yeah, it's a cool game, in my opinion.

However, one thing that's way better about Tapper is that the customers, glasses, money, etc. are all constantly moving across the tables so you always know exactly how long you have to collect an item or serve a customer. Cake Mania doesn't have that, so you're generally a bit in the dark about timing. Also, in the levels I've played, there's only one line of customers, so the game is much more linear and less chaotic than Tapper. That may change in later stages of the game, I don't know.

Still pretty fun, though.


...word is bondage...

[wallydawg]

I saw this in the Fry's ad yesterday It comes with an expansion pack or something; do they all come with that or is this a special edition?

Looks like I'll pick it up either way.

[DaBargainHunta]

I saw this in the Fry's ad yesterday It comes with an expansion pack or something; do they all come with that or is this a special edition?

Looks like I'll pick it up either way.

I am pretty sure every version of the DS release is the same. There were two PC games, but they're both included in the DS version.

[exit]

Cake Mania is a nice little game, I remember playing it on Yahoo games during classes. The online version doesn't let you get too deep into the game, so I'm sure it gets a lot crazier when you can use all the features.

From what I see, the main complaint IGN had was that they didn't try to go above and beyond with it, which I find reasonable since they could've added something new to the game.

[DaBargainHunta]

From what I see, the main complaint IGN had was that they didn't try to go above and beyond with it, which I find reasonable since they could've added something new to the game.

I think giving you Cake Mania AND the expansion on one cart - two for the price of one, basically - is already pretty generous. After all, they could've easily milked the second one for a quickie cash-in sequel on the DS.

Besides, if it ain't broke, why fix it? If I was a hardcore Cake Maniac, I'd want the portable version to be faithful to what I loved on the PC.