Review For Yoshi's Island DS.

An updated version of the SNES classic. How does it match up?

STORY

It would be an understatment to say that this story is confusing. What begins as an expanded rehash of the plot of the original Yoshi's Island, really starts to get mindboggling about halfway through. It definitley could have been done better.

CONTROLS

The controls in this game are not the best in the world. The egg-throwing system in competent enough, though inexperienced users may need to get used to it. Yoshi's flutter move is probably the hardest to control and you will probably find yourself fluttering into a cliff.

Each baby changes Yoshi's controls slighty. Mario is probably the easiest to control, while Wario is probably the hardest (since he has to be in the right place to use his magnet).

GAMEPLAY

Each level in the game uses both screens. This is both a good and a bad thing. It's good because you can see what's above or below Yoshi (you can even press a button to switch screens). However, the game features a blind spot between the two screens. This blind spot makes it hard to see certain items and it makes it hard to accurately aim your eggs from one screen to the next.

Each baby has a special move. Mario has good speed, dotted lines become solid when he's active, and he can grab super stars, Peach can use a parasol to ride along gusts of wind, DK can pound block and climb, but is quite slow, Wario uses a magnet to collect coins and move platforms, and Bowser can breath fire. This is quite unique and you can change babies anytime you find a stork. However, you can only really use certain babies in certain areas and Wario and Bowser are only available to use for certain levels.

It should be noted that, even though the game starts off easy and you can get lots of lives, the difficulty goes way up as the game goes on. This could be either a good thing to those looking for a challenge or it could be a bad thing for those frustrated at having to play the later levels 20 times each before you can beat them. This difficulty will make the task of collecting all the items a very challenging feat that I'm not sure people would be willing to try.

Difficulty aside, I do have to say that the final boss is probably the most enjoyable in years.

GRAPHICS

The game recreates the "drawn" look of the original quite good. Nothing that spectacular.

SOUND

It features that average sound effects found in Mario games. The game does feature the cutesy music and voice effects that have been used since Yoshi's Story, which some fans may not like too much.

OVERALL

New Super Mario Bros was such a great game, it's a shame that Yoshi's Island didn't follow suit. It's a fair game, but only the most hardcore will play it more than once.

Ratings
S-Story C-Controls G-Gameplay GR-Graphics SO-Sound

Reviewer	S	C	G	GR	SO	Overall (NOT AN AVERAGE)
Sean Kelly	6/10	7/10	6/10	8/10	8/10	6/10 - C+