Cake Mania

The gameplay is fun but quickly gets tiresome. It's also somewhat frustrating because the DS screen is a bit cramped and the stylus controls sometimes resulted in careless errors.

Puzzle fans and casual gamers looking for an affordable, quick game have a great option in Jill's bakery.

Unfortunately, the touch screen is not as accurate as a mouse and I don’t even want to get started about the glitch - if it had happened any more often than it did, then I would be unable to recommend this game.

An addictive new take on old classics such as "Burger Time." [Dec 2007, p.83]

Cake Mania on the Nintendo DS is fun but shallow; as long as you know that 20 bucks is getting you only a simple, admittedly challenging, casual game, then you're golden.

Just a little too barebones for its own good. [May 2007, p.97]

Jill's outlook looks bright, however. I can say it was a pleasure to study here, even if it seems that her rote-memorized daily life seems shallow and simple.

Picky gamers will surely turn their backs, but Cake Mania is not designed for them: in the hands of a casual audience it can be enjoyed little by little, maybe going back to that particularly hard level after a few months or so, just to give it another try.

The DS version retains some of the original game's addictiveness, thrusting gamers into tense situations in which they must multitask in order to please impatient customers. At the same time, they must contend with wonky touch screen controls.

The control issues will kill interest in all but the most determined casual gamer, however, and the graphics will cause even those with 20/20 vision to squint from time to time.

If you're a gamer looking to whet your palate on something new or, worse yet, a casual gamer looking for something to play during a train ride, consider long and hard before putting down money for this. The sharp difficulty curve is enough to scare away all but the most devoted and patient of gamers, and the repetition will lead to the frustration and hand cramps.

More variety and enhancements for this PC port would have made the DS version a lot sweeter. [June 2007, p.103]

There's no close-up work, only abstract coarse plotting between cookers and customers and, as such, it's a bit tedious. [Christmas 2007, p.70]

Cake Mania appears to be a game that graphically and conceptually targets a younger, more casual gamer. Unfortunately, the extreme difficulty level will most likely alienate this target audience.

Vaguely addictive.

Unless your idea of fun is to stress yourself out by performing menial tasks, you'll want to pass on Cake Mania.

It's disappointing: you'd think that a game about baking would know a little more about when it's necessary to substitute ingredients.

While fun in short bursts, the DS version of Cake Mania lacks depth and overly repeats on you. Burp.

A flawed and outdated game that is hard to recommend.

Ultimately, Cake Mania is too expensive, too slow and too limited to excel in this overcrowded field.

It's not a bad game, and it's actually pretty fun in short doses. If you're a patient person who likes to multitask this might be the perfect game for you.