Radio and Ratatouille

I originally was going to do an iPhone cartoon, but a lot of other folks did some and, quite frankly, did it better than me. So this week GC complains to a radio station.

Back to the subject of game made out of video games. I just finished playing Ratatouille for the Nintendo DS. Based on the Pixar film of the same name, this game lets you follow the adventures of Remy (a young rat) as he pursues his dream of becoming a chef. Not surprisingly, you control Remy as he scurries, leaps and climbs his way through scenes inspired by the film. Not only does Remy have to avoid mouse traps and rat poison, but if he's discovered while lurking in somebody's kitchen, they'll throw things at him. Fortunately, Remy can hide under objects if it's likely he might be detected. This part of the game was okay, if a little predictable. The reason it worked for me is that it did a good job of conveying the feeling of being a small rodent scurrying around in a human world. Then there's the cooking.

To prove his worth, Remy has to cook up some delicious French dishes. These cooking games are a nice addition to an otherwise mundane platforming game. Those of you familiar with Cooking Mama will find the cooking games quite familiar. You have to slice food, add it to the pot and keep a sharp eye on everything in your kitchen lest anything overcook. One advantage that Cooking Mama has over the Ratatouille cooking games is that you actually get the feeling that you're cooking something. Each step has a purpose and every ingredient you prepare is going to get used. Ratatouille obviously can't offer all of the cooking steps that Cooking Mama does, but in Ratatouille the ingredients are irrelevant. You could be dicing a shoe and dropping autoparts in the pot - it makes no difference to you and that lack of connection to what you're preparing really diminishes the sense of accomplishment you get from the game. One thing that Ratatouille does improve over Cooking Mama is plating - as fans of Iron Chef all know, plating is preparing your dish for the best visual appeal. At this point, things really come together and makes you feel like a real French chef.

Ratatouille is designed for a younger audience and an accomplished gamer will go through it rather quickly. I collected over 40 lives when the game was over, and I hadn't died a single time. Still, for it's innovative approach and fun gameplay, I give Ratatouille a 7 out of 10.

Happy 2007

Well here we are with a New Year and I have the nagging feeling I'm supposed to be doing something. Did you see the Star Wars entry in the Tournament of Roses Parade? I wish I had known about that before I wrote this week's cartoon.

I got a couple of new games over the holidays, both of which take advantage of the Nintendo DS touchscreen interface.

The first is Cooking Mama. Ever watch a kid play with plastic food in a pretend kitchen and wish you could do the same? Well here's a game that will let you do just that (and you don't have to find a kid to play with, either). In Cooking Mama you're in charge of the kitchen as the perpetually smiling Cooking Mama tells you what to do. The tasks vary from dicing onions to separating an egg to grilling kebabs. It's up to you to tap, drag and blow on the screen to get the recipe to come out just right. Only a few of the game's 76 recipes are available at first, with the rest unlocked during play. It's a fun little game, but other than unlocking the recipes, there didn't seem to be enough of drive to keep me going and certainly not much of a reward once that's accomplished. Compared to other games, this game lacks a certain level of excitement. Which is perhaps that is why it is priced at half of what the other games sell for.

But if you want excitement, something that will keep your toes tapping and your virtual feet moving, look no further than Elite Beat Agents. The story (if you can call it that) revolves around a specialized crew of performers that use their special dance moves to give people the confidence they need to get out of trouble. Like Cooking Mama, you use the stylus to tap and drag when the game prompts you to do so. Do well and the dancers move with grace, fail and they fall on their posteriors. If the Elite Beat Agents don't do their job well, then terrible things happen to the folks they're supposed to be helping. Which is important, because you need to successfully complete a mission before you can move on to the next one. The game comes with 19 rocking songs, many of which you'll recognize. If you're a fan of games like Dance Dance Revolution or Guitar Hero, you'll like this game.

Well, that's all for now. Don't forget to write.