The user-friendly Personal Trainer: Cooking further blurs the line between game and electronic companion while providing helpful, informative and, yes, entertaining ways to strengthen your cooking skills. Yes, cooking for real here folks; just be careful when you’re cutting, OK (see other disclaimers at the game’s beginning)? This trainer totes a large recipe cookbook (approximately 240 recipes) and a smooth, flexible way to go to culinary school at the Tsuji Cooking Academy on your own time.
After setting the voice instruction speed (the animated cook does not really match the engaging voice), you progress through a calendar that scribes your edible works (up to three recipes a day) and provides records for revisiting those recipes and experiences - special day bonuses are an especially nice touch.
All the interactive information and recipe presentations are well organized. Browse through categories like preparation, ingredients, helpful tips, and cooking techniques any time before you actually start making your dish. You can even preview every step in a recipe for even more warm up preparation so the cooking goes more smoothly, especially recommended if you’re going to have an audience. Other aids include a term glossary (background of food), conversions, substitutions, and a handy timer.
The superb organization allows you to find recipes by main ingredient, country (not necessarily by origin), calories, cooking time/method and difficulty. You can also find recipes through your notes, which are scribed through writing recognition boxes similarly seen in the latest crossword/puzzle games. It’s a personally customizable element where you can input peoples’ names or specific events then have the ability to search and categorize them all later.
There are 20 quick, but concise tutorial videos on simple tasks like making sushi rolls and washing rice, making for great visual aids. Pictures always accompany the text throughout the game in helpful interactions like ingredients identification. The visuals increase your retention rate as you learn the dishes.
Article comments