Hard-Boiled: Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked Review

One my biggest grievances with Cooking Mama was the reluctance of the renowned kitchen matriarch to teach actual recipes. All the slicing, mixing, and frying was enjoyable, but it did little to advance my culinary proficiency. While Nintendo’s Personal Trainer: Cooking walks players through each step of food preparation, its cookbook approach is too sterile for players yearning for a mild diversion.

Namco-Bandai’s recent release Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked attempts to bridge the gap. Admittedly, one might expect a title that bills itself as “the first video game from Food Network” to be lackluster affair; players have seen plenty of introductory television tie-ins to be less than gratifying. After working our way through the title’s twelve meals, I’m pleased to report that the title may not be delicious, but is mildly nourishing. 

First, let me get one ‘beef’ on my chest- while the retail box art proclaims the game “includes 30+ Food Network recipes, players expecting a cornucopia of gastronomic guidelines may be disappointed. Participants work on a dozen meals, each containing a several individual items. Therefore, bacon and eggs count as two recipes, while guacamole, salsa and quesadillas are an additional three. If this disparity can be pardoned, there is a decent amount of enjoyment to be found in this virtual kitchen.

Once players start their first meal, they’ll discern Cook or Be Cooked’s simulation slant. Each dish is prepared in real time, meaning you’ll have anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes to prepare a meal. Since waiting for a virtual fish to grill can be mind-numbingly tedious, players are given the ability to advance time with a touch of the ‘Z’ button. Players hoping to earn a bronze, silver or gold medal for a meal are compelled to multitask, intermittently switching to different components of each the meal.

                                                               Wait, steroids weren’t in the list of ingredients?

While the title’s gesture-based input system often errors on the side of leniency, there are times when the game’s controls can be touchy. When apprentice chefs are asked to crack eggs or flip items in a frying pan, it’s quite easy to use too little or too much force and/or speed. While mimicking the gesture of a pancake toss is intuitive, there is a discrepancy between the weight of the Wiimote and an actual skillet, forcing the player to adapt to the title’s input sensitivity. Still, seeing the animation of a quesadilla lobbed on the stove hood before splattering back in the pan is dependably amusing.

Erudite gamers know that licensed games tend to have an underwhelming visual component; I expected Cook or Be Cooked’s broccoli to be indistinguishable from a brussel spout. Surprisingly, the title’s visuals are exceedingly competent- each ingredient is well rendered, while completed recipes look sufficiently edible, even in close-up shots. The title wisely depicts its two hosts- Mory Thomas and Susie Fogelson, in a caricatured manner, with a level of detail far surpassing the typical Mii representation. While the title’s lip-syncing is typically capable, sporadically a character’s mouth would move with no accompanying dialog. The game’s hosts are both natural and overwhelmingly informative, although hearing the same information through multiple playthroughs can induce fatigue.

                                                      Best part of the game? No kitchen-cleaning mini-games!