It's a clone of Puyo Puyo, but Mean Bean Machine delivers a lot of Sonic-skinned puzzler fun. (more inside)
Gameplay- 7
There really isn't much story to this game. Then again few puzzles do have a storyline. In any case, the game revolves around your (yes, YOU) quest to save the beans from Dr. Robotnik's evil clutches. His plot is to turn all the beans into robots and use them to presumably defeat Sonic The Hedgehog.
To "save" these beans, you must chain together 4 or more to make them disappear. This causes all beans above the connected beans to drop, and that's where the strategy comes in. By following the simple law of gravity, you can chain together more sets of beans, dropping "trash beans", or what I like to call stones, into your opponent's dungeon. The idea behind each match is that you need to make combos to fill up your opponent's dungeon, and thereby win the match.
You face off against 12 enemies, and each one is more difficult than the last. When you win against these 12 robots, you go toe-to-toe with Dr. Robotnik himself to save the remaining beans. Each has his/her/their own strategy to beat you, and formulating your own strategy to defeat them can range from frustrating to an absolute blast. However there are sometimes matches later in the game that rely on luck and you'll find yourself doing some trial-and-error work to win them.
Graphics- 8
For its time, Mean Bean Machine has some pretty well done graphics. There's not much to see, but what is seen looks pretty nice. The beans in your dungeon bounce a little in place, and your opponent, who is shown in the middle of the screen, has a different animation depending on how well you are doing. Honestly, some of the "you are winning" animations are hilarious, from Dyna-Might's lever sliding dangerously close to the top of his head (meaning he will explode) to Scratch's sad, pitiful mug that basically says "Please go easy so I can then destory you".
Sound- 8
The music in the game is pretty catchy, and there are 4 tracks to the stages. The first is for the first 4 enemies of the game, which has led my to dub the track "Beginning Stages". The second track is for enemies 5-8, and is basically a slightly faster-tempo and higher-pitched version of the first track. The third stage track has a sort of ominous beat and is shared by stages 9-12. The final track is exclusive to Dr. Robotnik himself. The sound effects are work, but they can get somewhat annoying at times. The sound effects heard most often are when you chain together beans, or your opponent does it. If you make a combo, you hear a "Yippee" sound, and if you opponent chains together a combo, you hear a "Yeehaw" sound. If you or your opponent chain together more than a few sets of beans and manage to rack up a nice combo, hearing the sound 3+ times every 10 seconds can get irritating, but luckily the catchy music masks some of the annoyance.
Speed- 8
It's hard to give a game in a puzzle genre a score in the Speed category, but I'm surprised at how fast you can win a match. If you know what you are doing, you can finish a match within 45 seconds. The speed is really in how fast you put together combos and how you manage to place beans, as fast as possible.
Luckily, there is some sense of speed in the game. When you progress to new stages, the beans drop slightly faster, with noticable change coming around stage 9. This means when you get to the higher tier of enemies, you have to not only think up combos, but do them faster. This can cause you to lose more from the beans dropping too fast that your foe actually getting the better of you, but it's not too difficult to get the hang of the increasing speed of the beans drop.
Overall- 8.2
While this game has its faults, it is a truly addicting game that many puzzle fans and Sonic fans will enjoy.