The more things change, the more they stay the same. Gardening Mama represents both a pleasant change and cozy familiarity for fans of the Cooking Mama series. While the format and gameplay is the same, there's enough variation between the two to make this one interesting in its own right. As ever, "Mama", radiating cuteness and an endearingly atrocious command of basic linguistic skills, is the real selling point of the game. 8/10