DS Review: Ready Steady Cook

If there's one thing I've learned over the course of my reviewing various video games, it's that one thing never works: TV show to video game conversions. Why is that? Who knows. But it never, ever seems to work.

This game is based off the BBC programme, "Ready Steady Cook" (just as the title implies). You learn to cook in five different ethnic cuisine styles: British, Mexican, Indian, Oriental, and Mediterranean. The quality of your dishes will be stacked up against those of another contestant, and whoever does a better job wins, quite simply enough. Now, the dishes are also subdivided (even under each cuisine title) into four categories, based on price, apparently: Budget, Classic, Bistro, and Gourmet. Here are the dishes you'll be making:


British:

• Creamy Pea Soup (Budget)
• Bread and Butter Pudding (Budget)
• Banana Smoothie (Budget)
• Sticky Toffee Pudding (Classic)
• Sweet and Sour Peppers (Classic)
• Cod Wrapped in Bacon (Classic)
• Eggs Benedict Royale (Bistro)
• Venison Burger (Bistro)
• Smoked Salmon (Bistro)
• Wafer Stacks (Gourmet)
• Stuffed Mushrooms (Gourmet)
• Sea Bass with Asparagus (Gourmet)

Mexican:

• Cannellini Bean Soup (Budget)
• Mexican Sandwich (Budget)
• Chorizo and Chickpea Salad (Budget)
• Black Bean Salsa (Classic)
• Spicy Tortilla (Classic)
• Burritos (Classic)
• Churros (Bistro)
• Tex Mex (Bistro)
• Quesadillas (Bistro)
• Red Pepper Tortilla (Gourmet)
• Chicken Chimichangas (Gourmet)
• Tuna Tortilla (Gourmet)

Indian:

• Lentil and Vegetable Dhal (Budget)
• Vegetable Curry (Budget)
• Chickpea and Potato Curry (Budget)
• Chilli Flatbreads (Classic)
• Chicken Biryani (Classic)
• Chicken Tikka (Classic)
• Samosa (Bistro)
• Lamb Chappati Rolls (Bistro)
• Sheekh Kebabas (Bistro)
• Fish Pokora (Gourmet)
• Prawn Curry (Gourmet)
• Fish Curry (Gourmet)

Oriental:

• Crab Cakes (Budget)
• Pak Choi (Budget)
• Pad Thai (Budget)
• Egg Fried Rice (Classic)
• Pork Spring Rolls (Classic)
• Pork Lettuce Rolls (Classic)
• Wontons with Jam (Bistro)
• Coconut Broth (Bistro)
• Stir Fried Prawns (Bistro)
• Oriental Duck Salad (Gourmet)
• Chicken Satay (Gourmet)
• Chicken and Noodle Goreng (Gourmet)

Mediterranean:

• Chilled Melon Soup (Budget)
• Parma Wrap (Budget)
• Ricotta Stuffed Figs (Budget)
• Glazed Carrot (Classic)
• Carrot Coriander Soup (Classic)
• Parma Ham Bruschetta (Classic)
• Italian Tomato Tart (Bistro)
• Pesto Spaghetti (Bistro)
• Aubergine Wraps (Bistro)
• Gazpacho (Gourmet)
• Flatbread Pizza (Gourmet)
• Tiramisu (Gourmet)

You'll spend this game cracking eggs, chopping, cleaning, cutting, dressing, deep frying, draining, filling, frying, grating, manually mixing, automatically mixing, opening cans, setting ovens, peeling, picking, seasoning, simmering, slicing, and squeezing foods in preparation to make each meal. Not all these steps will be done either realistically or anywhere even VAGUELY near realistically... for instance, to open a can, you tap on randomly appearing dots that show up around the rim of the can. Ummm.....the last time I opened a can, there were no dots nor tapping? :p Just like with draining food, I don't think you'll be catching food randomly falling from the sky into a collander and saying it's been drained... no, it doesn't work like that. So, take some of these steps with a grain of salt. What gets me is that there's so little instruction on how to do these things that even on the easy difficulty, I failed a *lot* of times before finally figuring out the tricks in how to accomplish what they wanted. (Which, to be fair, is probably a lot like how real life cooking goes.) Also, it doesn't give you enough time for almost any of the tasks. If they'd extended each round by even just a few seconds more, I think it would greatly help things. I do, however, like that there's an in-game cookbook that tells you how to make each and every one of these dishes in real life. So it's won bonus points for itself there.

I'd by no means call this a terrible game; it should probably be ranked right up there alongside the Cooking Mama franchise. Analytically speaking, however... I think I'm going to rate this one a 6.5 out of 10 collanders.