A comprehensive case study. http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/reviewArt.cfm?artid=13787 Subject: "Jill" (This may or may not have been changed for the purposes of the study)
Interview Date: July 3, 2007
Preliminary Diagnosis: Cake Mania
Subject began session be reminiscing about her days as a "PC Title." A delusion of such caliber early in session usually breaks down the intended purpose of the session. Jill began speaking of when she first contracted the Cake Mania as a "casual game" on the "internet." For the purposes of the study, please understand that mostly what the subject will say will be abstract and hard to comprehend. Anyone reading this should have adequate training to separate the abstract from the facts.
Jill's life is a decidedly simple one. She works in a bakery and is able to lead a productive life as a baker, so long as the orders are simple and piecemeal. Her ovens only bake four types of cake at a time, and they do so automatically with the push of a button in the shape and color of the cake to be baked. The frosting and decorating is carried out in the same way with similar machines, icons and colors determining decoration and frosting, respectively. This technology is impressive, and it is of her own design. However, her worldview remains not so brilliant.
Jill believes that an entity known as "MegaMart" has been predatorily assaulting small town bake shops by opening stores and undercutting prices. Her grandparents have both told her of this corporation, according to her, despite the reality that her grandparents were dead for four years prior to her bakery's opening. She constantly argues with them, shouting at the walls and random people. This "outside pressure" does seem to force Jill to work harder and be more productive, although she will become hostile once repeatedly informed that MegaMart simply does not exist.
As a newly self-described "DS title," the subject feels she is able to connect to a wider audience of her fans. In her opinion, the transition went smoothly, and as her therapist, I have to agree. What she refers to as her "touch controls" feel right at home in her new DS world. There were the occasional issues where the "touch controls" created unintended consequences, such as being unable to stop or "cancel" her actions as she moved through her daily life. Such consequences included baking wrong "cakes" and having to throw them away.
A walk through her daily life shows a particularly rote memorization of events. Customers walk into her cake shop; she hands them a menu. They order from the limited selection of crudely shaped cake figures and choose from the four different frostings: chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and what the Subject calls "purple." (Therapist's note: FDA inspectors have been alerted.) After taking their order, Jill then presses the cake button, takes the cake, presses the frosting button and delivers to her customers their cake. She does show some signs of mental advancement, as she is able to deal with four customers at a time, without feeling pressured into shock. As such, her bakery is designed to only hold four people at a time. Therefore, her customers are particularly impatient and will leave if she is not swift in her cake construction, which causes her great tension. Particularly cruel was the episode where a picky business man ordered a double layer cake. She just did not know how to handle it, and when the business man's colleagues joined in on the teasing, she collapsed on the floor. It would not be prudent to blame her, as anybody shocked into that sort of relative complexity after being used to a simple life would react in a similar fashion.
Her likes include "sprites" as she had them in her "PC days." Her new DS status required that she check in her "sprites" and be issued new ones, which went without issue, except for her claim that you cannot see the cake shapes or colors when the customers start ordering double-layer cakes. Again as her therapist, I will concur. I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to deliver the wrong cake to a customer, despite its apparent similarity.
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. She does have quirks that need to be fixed, such as her tendency to listen to only one track of music for every second of everyday. I am recommending her for consideration for release.
Final Diagnosis: Cake Mania
Prognosis: Positive
Pros:
Causes intensely creative review by how simple the game is and how funnily the title can be misinterpreted Fun, addicting game design Anti-Walmart propaganda. Rollback this.
Cons:
Though addicting, the gameplay is painfully simple At the same time, the game gets complex much too quickly to adapt, striking at its intention as a casual game.
Graphics: 6.0
The sprites have been downgraded from the PC version to fit the DS screen. No real issues except when the customers order double layer cakes, which are sometimes hard to discern.
Sound: 5.0
There are limited tracks in the game, and all are of the muzak variety. Nothing offensive, but nothing spectacular.
Control: 8.0
The controls are tight except that it becomes annoying when Jill is told to do something by mistake and she carries it out anyway. Lots of cakes get baked mistakenly and are thrown away, which penalizes you.
Gameplay: 7.0
It is simple and addicting, although you have to get used to baking double layer cakes quite suddenly.
Lastability: 6.0
I would hazard a guess that the type of gamer playing it determines how long the enjoyment of Cake Mania lasts. It does label itself as a "casual game," for example. But that's not to say it isn't fun for the hardcore and semi-cores and semi-casuals and whatever new denominations are defined in the future.
Final: 6.5
This is a glorious time-waster, so much that it made it hard to write the review. But I don't see myself being addicted for too long.
Topic: REVIEWS: Cake Mania (Read 3316 times)
