Post by: NWR_Neal on February 23, 2009, 11:06:57 AM
Cooking simulators have populated the DS since Cooking Mama's success, but the idea of a game that actually teaches you how to cook hasn't hit the mainstream in America. The idea was done in Japan back in 2006 when Shaberu! DS Oryori Navi was released; it spawned numerous sequels, including Personal Trainer: Cooking, which was the series' first release in America.
Having the DS transformed into an interactive cookbook is a novel idea, but only if it works well. With close to 250 recipes and a plethora of DS-specific features, Personal Trainer: Cooking works wonderfully and is a fantastic aid for making food. Nintendo even dug into its large game catalog and stowed a cooking-related game, Game & Watch's Chef, into Personal Trainer: Cooking as an unlockable.
It's all very intuitive once you dive in and check out the game's interface, which is easily controlled with the stylus on the touch screen. The in-game voice is clear, and the speed of the male voice can be tweaked to your liking. For easy browsing, all the recipes can be sorted by time required, specific ingredients, or region of origin. Once you're looking at a recipe, you can look at the list of ingredients, what utensils it requires, and step-by-step instructions. There are also pictures of the dish along the way, but they aren't detailed enough to be too helpful. The amount of food to be made can be changed by increasing or decreasing the serving size, which removes the math from cooking. You can even organize a shopping list that is easily accessible from the main menu to help you prepare.
The instructions are relatively descriptive and easy to follow. They can be navigated using the microphone on the DS to avoid dirtying the system when you're making food. The voice commands don't offer too much frustration, but occasionally you'll have to repeat a phrase once or twice. The main complaint I have with it is that, due to the sensitivity of the microphone, it would misinterpret noises and skip ahead several steps while I was busy cooking. Although, the voice commands can be turned off easily if they become too much of an issue.
Personal Trainer: Cooking does what it intends to do and does it quite well. It's easy to use and pretty practical. It might not make you a great chef, but it'll give you some basic tips to further your cooking prowess or, at the very least, show off some dishes that you might have never tried.
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on February 23, 2009, 12:43:08 PM
I really appreciate the international variety of the recipes, as well as the portion sizing that you mention. But I wish they left out silly things like the Game & Watch thing, as that space could have been used for even more recipes. For instance, the selection of Russian and Mexican food is pathetic, and the number of American dishes is disappointing considering the size and diversity of the country.
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on February 23, 2009, 12:59:21 PM
Cooking simulators have populated the DS since Cooking Mama's success, but the idea of a game that actually teaches you how to cook hasn't hit the mainstream in America.
There was cooking instruction in Portal, but I could never find the fish-shaped toxic waste at the grocery store.
How useful is this app for a cooking neophyte? Does it show me the difference between chopping and dicing? If it says "Sweat the onions," can I say "Say what?" and get extra instructions?
Post by: NWR_Neal on February 23, 2009, 01:25:47 PM
UltimatePartyBear - For pretty much every technical cooking term, there is a definition and a way to find out more details about it.
As someone who never really cooked anything outside of grilled cheese and scrambled eggs, I'm having a ball making somethings that I never really thought to make.
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on February 23, 2009, 01:51:18 PM
Post by: DrStiles on February 23, 2009, 02:04:17 PM
Post by: TJ Spyke on February 23, 2009, 02:37:12 PM
Post by: jakeOSX on February 23, 2009, 07:44:35 PM
the grocery list thing was great,
and the Moroccan beef stew rocks, i suggest it highly.
Post by: Stratos on February 24, 2009, 03:30:06 AM
Post by: KDR_11k on February 24, 2009, 05:05:59 AM
and the number of American dishes is disappointing considering the size and diversity of the country.
That may be because America's culture is mostly an amalgamation of the cultures that immigrated and many of the recipes are filed under other countries?
I used this software to make a desert (sticky toffee pudding) that turned out great
Oh I remember that one, I was looking for which recipe would have the highest calorie count, the toffee pudding beat everything at 1500kcal, enough to feed a woman for an entire day.
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on February 25, 2009, 01:46:02 AM
That may be because America's culture is mostly an amalgamation of the cultures that immigrated and many of the recipes are filed under other countries?
NY/Chicago-style pizza, southern casseroles, Texan chili, San Franciscan sourdough, tons of Cajun food, any variety of BBQ, not to mention many interesting Hawaiian dishes... these things may or may not have descended from other countries' cuisines, but Americans have added their own distinct flavors and methods.
And in the realm of the totally obvious... there are no recipes for hamburgers, hot dogs, or apple pie. There are only 10 recipes for America, compared to 34 for France, 39 for Italy, and 28 for China.
Jonny - You can change the microphone sensitivity in the actual DS setup.I just checked, and no, you cannot. If you know a way to change the microphone sensitivity, please tell me in detail, as I would like to change mine.
Post by: NWR_Neal on February 25, 2009, 01:59:13 AM
Modified the blog slightly to make up for my error. Jonny, thanks for keeping me honest even though you're almost completely retired.
Post by: Nick DiMola on February 25, 2009, 11:39:18 AM
We'll definitely be using those recipes again and look forward to testing out others.
Post by: Ymeegod on February 25, 2009, 05:13:16 PM
Would love to see MORE. in fact I wouldn't mind a WII cooking channel or WII Cooking software since the DVD format can hold thousands of recipes and additional info (like how long to cook chicken--brown or cooking to taste wouldn't save you from salmonella).
I hope nintendo uses my idea of combining both of their products because I'll buy it :).
BTW: There's tons of recipes that use Sake too :).
Post by: KDR_11k on February 26, 2009, 03:05:28 PM
Post by: UltimatePartyBear on February 26, 2009, 03:46:56 PM
Post by: Stratos on February 26, 2009, 08:22:35 PM
You could stream it to your DS, but at that point you might as well cut out the Wii and stream it from the Internet to your DS.
My Aunt has a TV in her kitchen. It's so she won't miss parts of the Super Bowl when she's in there. So her and her and the rest of the small minority could also get Wii's for their kitchen TV and use Cooking Trainer Wii.
