Having played games from both series, I actually prefer the art direction in Cake Mania considerably over the direction seen in traditional Diner Dash.
The point being, the character designs in the Cake Mania series are done reasonably well, and have a certain syndicated comic strip charm to them that captures the casual nature of the product. I believe character design is very important with these puzzle based products, as the usually simple presentation of such games lays the majority of its aesthetic on the designs and characters you’re going to be staring at through the repetition. But let’s pretend this is your first Cake Mania experience for a moment. It’s not that big of a deal, but if you plugged away at the first game on any platform, the recycled graphics might come of as a bit lazy, and can even act as amplifiers to the fact that you’re pretty much playing the same game as the previous version. Even a few of the customer sprites from the first game appear in this installment with various costume changes. Though the graphics of Cake Mania 2 may be the cause of some of its gameplay issues (we’ll cover that in a bit) – from a basic visual stand point, things are more or less the same as the previous DS installment. Jill is as likable as ever, and though simple, the story has the right amount of charm and wit to carry itself along with the casual experience.
It’s a puzzle game about baking cakes, and what is there works as far as a plot is concerned.
The writing is bubbly and appropriate, and I can easily imagine anyone being able to chuckle at its comedic, down to earth approach. As in the other games, the exposition, which is depicted by way ofĬomic strip sequences, is meant to be light, clever, and cute, and in those regards, Cake Mania 2 hits its mark. As I’m sure you can expect, all the plot progressions involve Jill baking cakes. The single player experience will allow you to pick which of Jill’s two friends you want to assist at the start, and the story will branch out from there.
Jill sends her deserving grand folks on a dream trip to Hawaii, and it’s not long after that Jill’s friends find themselves in desperate need of her baking abilities. The plot picks up right after Jill manages to save her grandparents bakery via her goddess-like cake baking skills. Cake Mania 2 continues to follow the culinary exploits of the cake maven Jill, but you can’t help but feel you’ve had your fill of the particular dessert in question in the series’ second DS appearance. With its simple to pick up, yet difficult to master gameplay, the popular Cake Mania series is probably only rivaled by the likes of Diner Dash as the current time waster game of choice by many a casual gamer.