Review of Cake Mania - Back to the Bakery

Cake Mania, Back to the Bakery, looked like a fun game to play so I thought I would give it a try and I absolutely love the game although it can get a bit frustrating at time because you miss the target by barely anything. On entering into the game you are faced with a bright fun looking title screen after the game loads you have to enter your name, once you have entered your name you then go to the main menu which has the options of play, high scores, options, register, help and exit.

I advise anyone who is going to play this game for the first time to click on the help button first so you fully understand how to play the game, the instructions are very detailed and really help you understand the game play. Once you have read the instructions and have a good idea of how to play you can then click on the play button this will also give you a few options like play a new game, load a saved game. Once you have clicked on play new game you will see a very helpful tutorial which gives you a quick run through on how to play the game which is great as you can have a practice before starting the main game.

Once you have gone through the step by step tutorial it is time to begin playing. On level one you will see a sign pop up saying January and the target amount you have to hit before you can move onto the next level. Once you have read this click begin and you will see a bakery which is very bright and colourful and in the middle is a girl with brown hair this is you the baker also around you, you will see the oven which has different shapes of cakes that can be baked in it, then on the opposite side of the kitchen is the frosting also different colours of icing can be applied once the cakes are made. At the top of the screen is a clock and when start playing the game you will see that the hands on the clock move and once they get the twelve a sign will drop down saying the sop is closed. At the bottom of the screen you can see the target that you have to hit and the amount of money you have made so far.

Right onto playing the game at the counter you will see a customer you have to click onto the customer to give them a menu for them to pick a cake once they have decided what cake shape and frosting they would like a speech bubble will appear at the side of them with the cake they desire, then you have to click on the shape of the cake they want on the oven then you will see a orange circle to start to appear on the oven gradually once this is full the oven will open and the cake will come out then you have to click on the cake and carry it over to the frosting table where you click on the colour of frosting they want while, once the frosting is finished you will pass the cake to the customer which will be boxed up in a white box with a red bow then the customer will leave the money for you to collect, while you are serving the customer you will see five red hearts at the side of them and the longer you take to prepare the cake the less hearts that will be there meaning less money for your target which will mean you will have to be quicker or bake a lot more cakes than required. This may sound quite easy but you get more than one customer in the shop at one time and you have to keep them all happy which can be quite tricky cause you are not allowed to leave the cake near the oven for to long if you do then the cake falls into a basket of fire below and you loose money, also if you bake the wrong cake you have to place it in the bin and this deducts money from your total as well.

Once hitting target you will move up levels the levels are pretty much the same except you get more customers and extra time the more you move up a level which can get really tricky because you have to be running round and remembering everything. In between levels your money obviously builds up and before tapping begin on your level a menu board will pop up on the left hand side of the screen which will show you how much money you have made, then you will see the bakery at the side with shadowed areas when you tap on these you will see in the menu what you can buy there is so many things to buy which can help you make more cakes or keep the customers happy, there is three ovens two standard once and then a super oven which bakes the cakes in seconds helping you to produce the cakes quicker, then there is a television and a microwave for cooking cupcakes to hand to the customers which keeps them happy, three frosting tables so you can frost more than one cake at a time, also there is two different types of toppings for the cakes which customers can have for decoration which enables you to receive more money, then in the middle of the table you can have a stand to put the cakes on when prepared from the oven if you are dealing with another customers order and finally you can buy a better pair or shoes which enables you to move faster round the bakery which is great, all these extras are ranged from $200 through to $1500 so you have to make a lot of cakes to be able to buy all the great things to help you move up a level.

Once you get past certain levels the customers come in the bakery a lot more quicker than before and you have to serve them all and keep them happy they all ask for different things some want toppings some don’t so you have to remember a lot of things and remember to be as quick as possible. Just when you think it couldn’t get any more difficult the customers start asking for a two tier cake with different frostings and toppings which takes longer to prepare this is when it is a must have to have two ovens to cook the two tier cakes as quick as possible before the customer leaves the bakery. Remember you have to bake the cakes as quick as possible to get the customer out of the shop so the next customer can come in as you can only fit four customers in at one time and they all need to be kept happy. Right I won’t mention anything else about the game I will let you have a go and see what you think for yourself. The graphics of the game are very colourful and really fun to look at which makes it a really fun game to play. I would recommend this to anyone who can multitask and enjoys a challenge! Well done Astraware you get 10 out of 10 from me, addictive and excellent gameplay make this a favourite for me.
Cake Mania, Back to the Bakery is available from Astraware