Cake Mania

Reviewed by Christine Quidim
October 18, 2006

Developer: Sandlot Games Publisher: Sandlot Games Website: Click Here Platform(s): PC, Coming to Nintendo DS (TBA 2007) Number of Players: 1 ESRB Rating: E for Everyone Review Rating: 7 out of 10

Screenshot from Cake Mania . Courtesy Sandlot Games. Click image to enlarge.

Upon returning from culinary school, Jill discovers that her grandparents' once thriving bakery has closed down. In order to buy back the property and reopen the bakery, Jill decides to use her grandparents' cake recipes to raise the money from home.

Assuming the role of Jill, you must take orders from multiple customers and use the kitchen equipment to bake various combinations of cakes. There are over 45 levels of play, each containing newer cake recipes and more demanding customers. With the money that you raise per level, you can upgrade your kitchen and add more accessories to increase profit as well as keep customers' patience levels from diminishing too quickly.

I stumbled upon this game while looking around online for a “time killer”. At first it didn't look all that appealing, but with nothing to lose, I gave it a shot and actually found the game quite fun.

Sounds like a customer management nightmare, so if you're a service rep of some sort, I don't recommend this game; you probably get enough of it at work. However, it is a fun memory/strategy-type game for the kids, for the office, or when you just don't feel like committing any serious time to that MMO at the moment. The graphics and artwork are simplistically pleasant and do not require the latest and greatest system specs to enjoy. At about $20, the price sounds a bit much but you can still play online for free (with limited features) or download the trial version (full features with limited play time). For the non-PC gamers, Cake Mania will be released (TBA 2007) for the Nintendo DS.

More Screenshots: