My Best DS game of 2006!
Yoshi Island DS has you once again on Yoshi Island helping Baby Mario rescue his friends trapped by Bowser. But this time Baby Mario isn’t the only one that will be riding on Yoshi’s back. Eventually Yoshi will be able to carry Baby Peach, DK, Wario, and even Bowser Jr. Combine this baby changing mechanic with great level design then you have a game that screams AAA.;)
Once you start the game it will go to a quick cut screen on Kamek dropping Baby Mario directly on Yoshi’s head. But this time it brings the stork with Baby Peach in its beak. And thus are adventure begins to save the babies that Kamek is stealing. In Yoshi Island DS you will go from one level to the next similar to other Mario games, but Yoshi Island DS doesn’t have an overview map you can explore. Once you choose which level you won’t to do, you can only choose one at the begging, you will start the level. Every level you start of with 10 star points, which are you health basically. Whenever Yoshi gets hit by an enemy the baby his carrying will fall off Yoshi and start floating in the air in a bubble. For every second you don’t get the baby back the more they cry, which is very annoying, and the more star points you lose. Once the star points hit zero Kamek will fly down and still Mario and you will lose a life. The bad thing about this is that it is almost impossible to lose all you points since they will automatically regenerate to ten if you have less then ten.
Star points are not only good for your health, but they are vital to add to your score for the level. In each level you will have to collect star points, flowers (they float in the air, you can’t actually go around collecting flowers :lol: ) and red coins to get a maximum score of 100. This scoring system adds a lot of replay value to the game. In fact, if you get 800 points overall in the world you will unlock stuff in the game.
Enough of the story and scoring system, lets get to the gameplay! Yoshi does what you would expect he would do. He can walk, run, jump, throw eggs, etc. This is no different they past Yoshi games. What is unique here is when Yoshi has the new babies on his back. For example, Baby Peach allows you to float in jet streams, and DK lets you climb vines. These abilities add a lot to the formula and helps make the game seem unique and very fun.
Now then, Yoshi Island DS only has 5 worlds, and each world only has 8 main levels. This might not seem like a lot, but it really is. Unlike Mario games, Yoshi Island DS levels are very lengthy for a platformer. You can go through a level and not see half of the level. This is the real beauty of the game; you can play each level over and over and never get bored. You will play the same level numerous times to get 100 points and it will never feel tedious; the level design in just amazingly good.
It is not only the gameplay that makes Yoshi Island DS great, the hand drawn graphic style fits the game perfectly and really helps the game. The graphics look like they were just painted on the screen. The artistic style fits the game and Yoshi in general. The only complaint I have is that the graphics aren’t as polished as the original Yoshi Island. But this is only a minor complaint and shouldn’t stop you from getting this great game.
And last but not least I will touch on the topic of sound. Sound in videogames has never really had much of a factor to me, and Yoshi Island DS is no exception. Yoshi Island DS doesn’t have amazing sounds or great catchy music like other Nintendo games. But then again, it doesn’t need great sound. The game is so good that you won’t care if the background music doesn’t sound as good as other games. I’m in no way saying the sound is bad mind you; just not spectacular.
Before I rap up this review; I would like to thank anyone has actually read the review instead of looking solely at the numbers. And if you are one of the millions enjoy the DS then you owe it to yourself to get this amazing game. Not only does it live up tot the original Yoshi Island, but it makes it feel new all over again. That is why Yoshi Island DS gets my Best DS game of 2006.