If you like to cook, then you'll love the recipe game, Personal Trainer: Cooking featuring more than 200 recipes from all over the world.
You've probably seen the commercial for Personal Trainer: Cooking. It features Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe from Friends) cooking dinner with her daughter. They make a nice Chinese food dish all with the help of a Nintendo DS game, Personal Trainer: Cooking. When I saw this commercial, I just had to get it. I love cooking, and if a game can take me step by step through a recipe, then it's a worthwhile addition to my kitchen. Now that I've used this 'game' and have cooked 5 dishes from its recipe banks, I have a good idea of whether this game is worth the purchase.
| Recipes | Rating  |
Personal Trainer: Cooking boasts 245 recipes from all over the world. They have three difficulties: easy, normal and challenging. For instance, they have a recipe for paella, one of the most challenging dishes in Spanish cuisine. They have foods in categories such as appetizers, salads, soups, entrees and desserts. I've personally made orange chicken, bang-bang chicken, carrot salad, cheese pancakes and Macedonian fruit salad.
My only complaint is that there could have been more recipes. While it came with 245, I still wanted more.
| Game Play | Rating |
With Personal Trainer: Cooking, you pick out a recipe and it walks you through the steps one by one as you cook. First, it will show you the ingredients list. This list changes depending on how many servings you plan to cook. You can also view the utensils list to see what kind of cooking items you'll need to make the dish.
Once you have everything ready, you can start the cooking process. The game will show you each step, and will actually read off the directions. If you aren't sure about a cooking method, you can ask to see in depth pictures or videos to learn more.
While I definitely liked this setup, there was one problem. For the most part, the time they stated it would take to make a recipe was accurate. There were exceptions, such as the orange chicken. The recipe said it would take 20 minutes but it was more like an hour.
| Game Features | Rating  |
There are a lot of extra features to Personal Trainer: Cooking that set it apart from other cooking games for the system. For instance, they have a really good search system to find recipes. You can search by country, difficulty, ingredients, calories, keywords and more.
They also provide a large knowledge database. You can learn, through pictures and live action videos, how to do something as simple as boil water or as complex as filleting a fish. You can even use voice commands when you're going through a recipe. When you're done with a step, say 'continue' and move on without getting food all over your DS controls.
| The Verdict | Rating |
While I would have liked more recipes and an honest timing system, I know I'll be using this game for a long time. Although you can find thousands of recipes online for free, Personal Trainer: Cooking provides detailed information that you won't find anywhere else. They use pictures and videos for each step so you know exactly what to do and how to do it. Anyone that likes to cook would do well to get this game.