Having played quite a lot of cooking games both in this generation and in general, I’ve always enjoyed them when they’ve been executed well. The thing is, what form that can take has always seemed to be difficult to precisely quantify. On the one end of the spectrum there are more actively involved games like the classic Cooking Mama series that, at their best, have been satisfying because they give you just enough action to mirror various cooking tasks that the experience draws you in. One the other you have titles where the discrete actions you perform are more abstract, and can just involve clicking around, but there’s still some sense of flow or hectic activity to get you engaged. Then, of course, there are games that do neither well and start to lose the thread of feeling like you’re in a kitchen and preparing food at all. Unfortunately, that’s where Cook For Love feels like it lands for me.

While I appreciate the fact that there’s an attempt at a story here to get you engaged, with you diligently working to try to build your confidence as a chef and grow, it’s not remotely enough to drive the overall experience. The real issue, quite simply, is that the mix of point-and-click manipulation of different kitchen utensils and tools, mixed with the pretty awkward controls for shifting from station to station, just tends to be quite unsatisfying. Without the attempt to create a more tactile experience, or to instill some sense of urgency that keeps you moving as quickly as you can, you’re left to contemplate just how limited everything feels. Whether moving items from one spot to another, simply tapping the button to perform tasks like chopping, or periodically being confused about what steps you’ll actually need to complete since the visual diagrams aren’t sufficiently detailed, there’s simply not much of anything here to get excited by or to really enjoy.

The end result is just a game that looks lovely, and then tries and mostly succeeds in having a “cozy” feel, but misses the boat when it comes to anything resembling compelling gameplay. I understand that it’s likely made for “casual” gamers, whoever they may be, but whether or not there’s an audience that may accept this being “good enough” or not, people who know better should quickly point out how weak an overall effort this is. There are simply far too many better cooking games out there, almost no matter what style of play you’d prefer, and settling for this is simply unnecessary.