Review of Astraware's Cake Mania

I've been playing Astraware's Cake Mania and as with all the Astraware games I've played, this one is lots of fun! The word "Mania" in the title sure fits the description because you have to be on your toes in this game to stay on top of the cake baking and decorating mania going on in order to satisfy your customers.

Cake Mania, like Super Slyder and Tradewinds, is based on the best-selling PC game by Sandlot Games. According to Alison Barclay of Astraware, this is the first time the game has been available with a touch screen interface which suits the game perfectly. Astraware did a wonderful job bringing this game to the Palm OS. The graphics are beautiful and the game is so much fun!

As the other reviewers have mentioned, Cake Mania centers around a young girl named Jill who is trying to win back her grandparents' bakery. The game starts out in comic book fashion which I thought was very cute since I used to love to read comic books all the time when I was growing up. Heck, I still buy an occasional Archie Digest and read it but don't tell anyone!

The comic strip pics guide you through the game and tell you the story and what you will need to do in order to help Jill succeed with the bakery. You'll encounter a colorful cast of characters who come in the bakery to buy Jill's cakes. You're given a specific amount of money with which to buy kitchen equipment and you have to decide which equipment would be the most profitable for the bakery. You can buy extra ovens, cupcake ovens, frosting machines, etc.

The faster you serve the customers, the happier they are and you'll make more money and get more points. You don't want to keep the customers waiting. You can see their impatience by the number of hearts next to them. You want to keep more hearts there. You can help to keep them happily waiting by buying a tv for them to watch or by baking them a cupcake. If you use your money wisely, you'll keep your customers happy and will do very well.

Of course the game does get harder the further along you go; as the months go by. If the game stayed easy, there wouldn't a challenge and it become boring. Don't worry, you won't get bored. You're going to have to keep your wits about you so you can multitask and keep the cakes coming out fast! I'm the nervous type who gets nervous for the cashier in the grocery store if there are more than 3 people in line, so I wasn't the best player in this game as I got flustered as more and more customers came in and were wanting their cakes.

Cake Mania is really fun and you'll be happy when you can help Jill do well and make lots of money. I don't think I helped the poor girl out but I'm sure that many of you Palm Addicts will do much better!

Cake Mania comes out tomorrow so be sure to head over to Astraware and get your copy and win back that bakery for Jill and her grandparents!