Cooking Mama was pretty excellent, and there's not doubt about it: the sequel was just as brilliant.
Not only that, but you earn more people to cook with, too. Friends who seem to be Mama's "family" join you in the "Let's Cook!" section, such as Papa, David, Grandma and Natalie, plus many, many others too. Finishing a minigame before it reaches the half-way point earns you bonuses, and the more bonuses you have, the more prizes your earn.
These "prizes" are usually items so you can customise Mama and dress her in different clothes and give her accessories. Also, you'll also win stickers to stick onto pictures of your favourite recipes. You can make your pictures, the kitchen and Mama look just how you want.
There are three stages for each recipe: Practice, Try Out and Let's Cook. Of course, each one of these are optional, so if you feel you do not need to practise or try out a recipe in the "Cook With Mama" section, simply move onto cooking with friends where you'll find the recipe you want and you can cook it properly. This means no introductions, and getting just one thing wrong means you have to start all over again. It can be annoying, but that's why it's better to practise beforehand.
As I said earlier, finishing minigames properly before the half-way point earns you bonuses. These bonuses are actually stars - you know, three stars, four stars, five stars. The trouble is that the stars are repitive and easy to achieve, so once you've achieved five stars, which should happen on an average of two to three recipes, you get a present and you start all over again. Big deal.
The recipes found in Cooking Mama 2 are really good, because they can make you more knowledgable and cultured about different recipes. There are really exoctic ones, like Korean Pancakes, Nori Rolls and plenty more, but also there's the ones that you know well, like hotdogs, T-bone steaks and even cake. Yes, sweet deserts are makable too; Chocolate, icecream, popcorn and the like.
Even drinks are makable, and really simple. So simple that some even only take one or two minigames, and so easy to remember that after playing, you can pop into your kitchen and make it yourself. Mind you, it's not too easy, otherwise that would be stupid.
Cooking Mama 2 is overall an excellent game, and I reccomend it thouroughly!