Yoshi Island DS
SCORE: 89
Yoshi’s Island DS has such a youth exuberance to it. Be careful though, because the last couple of worlds in this game can be extremely difficult. Yoshi is out to save baby Luigi, this time with some additional baby assistance. Each of the different babies included have different skills to assist in the gameplay. Yoshi still eats enemies, turns them into eggs, and can shoot those eggs. Each level is broken down into mini levels.
People seem to fall into two categories with the graphics in Yoshi’s Island DS; either like or dislike. The youthful expression bring a smile to my face. These graphics are very bright and colorful, with the exception of some cave levels. The violence in this game is all cartoonish. Which brings me to an interesting concern. The ESRB listed no descriptors, but this game most definitely has cartoon styled violence. Yoshi can stomp, eat, and shoot with eggs (or an enemy in the mouth). How the ESRB could miss these blatant acts of violence is beyond me.
The Yoshi Island series has been getting its very own image after spinning off from the Mario series. There are still quite a few classic Mario sounds in this game, but there are also obvious Yoshi only sounds as well. I found the music to be cheerful, and uplifting. I also feel the overwhelming majority of the sounds work well in this game. Yoshi grunting as he is trying really hard to fly can become a little much for me though.
Nintendo includes everything to find including the kitchen sink (disclaimer: I did not literally find a kitchen sink). There are plenty of hidden items, many of which can only be gotten to with a certain baby on Yoshi’s back. The game scores the player on how many of these items are found in each level played. I do think that this game can have an addictive quality to it, especially in later levels.
Yoshi’s Island DS controls quite well, but then Nintendo has that down to a science. Baby Peach has the most useful move in my humble opinion, but it can be a bear to get to work at times. The targeting with the shooting of eggs at the different enemies needs some tweaking though. I had fun playing this game until the amazingly frustrating last two worlds.
Protecting babies from the dangers
of the world is a wonderful lesson to teach. I do wish the game would
have come down hard on baby Wario’s greed. Yoshi’s Island DS also
teaches going to extraordinary measures to save someone in danger. The
violence is cartoonish, but the eating of enemies and turning them into
eggs has always been a bit unsettling to me.
- Paul
Graphics: 86%
Sound: 92%
Replay/Extras: 91%
Gameplay: 93%
Family Friendly Factor: 84%
System: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Nintendo
Rating: 'E' for Everyone
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