The 'Shroom:Issue XV/Review
Yoshi's Cookie Review
Alright, lemme explain. I didn't get Mario Kart Wii, so I had to resort to the Virtual Console. I really wish I had gotten MKWii, but hey, YC is a classic! Also, please make cash-only donations by PayPal if you would like to help me out with my predicament.*
*I was joking. :P
Review
Well, as I said above, Yoshi's Cookie is a classic. I was ecstatic the day I saw that it was finally on the Virtual Console, as I hadn't played it since my dad sold my NES so very long ago. Once I had bought it, did it live up to my childhood memories? Is it still a great puzzler that will captivate the hardcore gamers of today? I plan to answer those questions.
Gameplay
The gameplay seems really difficult to master at first, but once you get the hang of it, it feels great. You have to move your cursor around the screen and place it on a cookie. Then, you press the A button (Or 1, or whatever you press on a Classic Controller) and move the selected cookie and those in it's row either horizontally or vertically. Sounds difficult, I know, but look it up on YouTube or something if you don't get it. Anyway, It's rather confusing for the first puzzle or two, but then it gets much easier to control the flow of gameplay. Every once in a while, however, you might make a small mistake and lose the game.
The game plays rather simply. Five types of cookies fall from the sides of the screen and stack up, always making a perfect square. You must line up cookies either horizontally or vertically so that a certain type takes up a whole row, knocking your set off the screen. If you let too many cookies pile in without making any rows, you lose. If you get fifteen (or five, I can't remember) sets of a certain type of cookie, you get a Yoshi's Cookie: a wildcard that counts as any type of cookie that it lines up with. Once you clear the screen of cookies, you win the level and move on. Not exactly your typical puzzle game, but it works well. It speeds up very quickly, however, and that ramps up the difficulty rather significantly. Which is great for those who are good at the game, but not so hot for beginners. Some may seem quickly overwhelmed by the difficulty at times.
Graphics
Why do I have a graphics section for an 80's, 8-bit, NES game, you ask? Well, I say to you this: I felt like this review needed a graphics section. I'll be nice to the game, so don't worry. ;)
Well, what can I say? The graphics are… Great, for their time. Usually crystal clear, with no blurriness. The spritework is usually humorous and well done, especially the Cooking Mario. He makes me laugh, especially when you finish a tough round and he waves off the screen. The graphics in the short clips are not quite as good, but still rather good for the 80's. As they are in 8-bit, each sprite is only able to contain three different colors at one time, but the three colors that each sprite uses works smoothly with each other and the other sprites. All in all: as a twenty-first century gamer, the graphics suck. If I were a gamer back in the 80's, they graphics are awesome.
Music
Whew, don't get me started on the music. At first, it's a nice, bubbly tune that you will enjoy for the first loop. But, if your parents don't tell you to shut it off first, you will be annoyed as heck before too long. Fortunately, the game offers three different songs to play with in addition to the option of playing no music. Unfortunately, the game does not allow you to change music once you have started a game, which gets annoying.
Movies
Heh, there aren't really any movies in the game, per se, but there are a few small cutscenes that involve Mario and Yoshi. These scenes are usually somewhat humorous, if you know what is going on. But, unfortunately, I wasn't sure what the heck was going on most of the time. :P
Overall Score
Overall, the game is an addicting, fun puzzler. It gets annoying at times, but is overall a great game. So, my final score?
- OVERALL SCORE: 8.4/10 – It's a classic. Get this one as soon as you possibly can, cuz at $5.00 a pop, it's totally worth it.
