GameSetAnalysis: The Mamas and the Papa
Just as Majesco's Cooking Mama series sought to turn living rooms into virtual kitchens for teaching cooking fundamentals, Activision's new Science Papa game hopes to "turn living rooms into virtual laboratories" for teaching science fundamentals.
Considering that Majesco has sold over four million Cooking Mama games so far in North America alone, it's not a bad formula to copy! Just like in Cooking Mama, players will have a series of minigames to enjoy, but instead of making meals, they'll "pour and mix chemicals, pound objects into dust, monitor Bunsen burners, fix and use lab equipment, and more."
Rather than talk at length about Mama (who also gardens on the side) and Papa's obviously kindred designs, let's compare art from the two IP's DS and Wii titles to see how deep the similarities run:
Wii boxart comparison (Science Papa and Cooking Mama: Cook Off, via GameFly):
Wii gameplay comparison (Science Papa and Cooking Mama: World Kitchen):
DS gameplay comparison (Science Papa and Cooking Mama):
Activision plans to release Science Papa for DS and Wii this July. I'll make sure to do another image comparison series whenever Electronic Arts announces its own kin-based minigame collection -- House Painting Uncle or Snarky Gaming Blogger Auntie or whatever.
Comments
Seriously? Science Papa? Cooking Mama was a worrying enough title, but specifically spinning off of it to create that duality is downright thoughtless, even if they're made by different companies. VG Cats said it best: http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=254
Posted by: Gregory Weir | May 14, 2009 5:53 PM