Ratatouille Food Frenzy (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

If you could cast your mind back to last year's Ratatouille (the game, not the movie) you'll probably recall a rather pleasant platformer come puzzler with some cooking elements. Since then though the DS has gone a little crazy with the notion of 'cooking' on the DS and the latest edition of Cooking Mama has single-handedly made 505 Games something of a major player on the handheld gaming scene. It was obvious then, when the original developer of Ratatouille, Hexile, was approached to make a sequel that it would be the cooking sections that would dominate the gameplay. It's certainly not the riskiest move in gaming history but has this decision to play it safe provided the correct recipe?

Gameplay

At its core, Food Frenzy is nothing more than a handful of mini-games most of which appeared in the original outing and it can also be completed in half an hour or so. To get some mileage out of this game then you'll need to enter the story mode, which has you cooking a variety of menus in order to impress the local food critics. Flip the Fish is one of the more enjoyable (not to mention challenging) of this bunch where the object is to slowly cook the fish, taking care not to burn it and then flip it onto the passing waiters' plates. Before you even attempt this though you'll be forced to clean the kitchen of slugs and snails by throwing cheese (yes, I did say cheese) and soap bubbles at them until they fall of the wall tiles. Other games involve you slicing and dicing, by simply mimicking the on-screen visuals and, ported directly from last years outing, Cooking with Remy. This is probably the game's strongest point but adding ingredients of pots and pans whist also stirring them and making sure they don't burn does become a little repetitive especially on the more advanced levels.

Once you've completed this, should you stay the course, that's it. No Multiplayer, No Wi-fi and outside of the ability to unlock screens from the movie, no real reason to play the game to its conclusion.

Controls

As with the cooking sections on the original, it's all touch screens so get down to there.

Graphics

You'll probably recall that the visuals in the cookery scenes from the previous outing were taken from the credits of the movie and like most things in Food Frenzy; the developers saw little point in changing things. That's not to say that this was a bad thing (here, at least) and the simple stylized graphics perfectly suit the on-screen action.

Sound

The French style soundtrack is a delight to begin with but will quickly grate thanks to the developers decision to only include one track or, at least, that's how it feels.

Dual screen

Like the cooking sections of the original the developers have done a fine job of emulating the movements of kitchen equipment with the stylus, this involves stirring, chopping and even flipping pans. Most of it works very well but you will find that occasionally you'll have to slow something down, such as stirring a liquid because the game isn't quite reacting quickly enough to your movements.

Final comments

You have to question the wisdom of simply stripping out elements of a game and then re-packaging it hoping that the audience won't really notice. It has been done before though and occasionally it's been successful. Food Frenzy is not though and the outcome is a disappointing collection of cooking inspired mini-games, which are unlikely to keep anyone happy for more than half an hour. If it's a cooking sim you really want try Cooking Mama, but for those of you who wish to relive the movie, stick with last years original offering.

Pro: Same Stylized Visuals as the Original
Con: Very Short and Not Much Different to the Last Outing.
Final score: 4.7

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