Yoshi's Cookie

"Well, the game's certainly an enigma. It's got good points and bad points and....what's that? Details? If you insist..."

Yoshi's Cookie is an improvement on the original although they ultimately fall into the same trap; it's often an annoyingly random process to finish a stage. While most block-vanishing game(''Tetris Clone'' has become overused) have a more chaotic arrangement of blocks left, Yoshi's Cookie always leaves blocks in the shape of a rectangle. You can cycle items in a row one square in any direction, and the object is to line up equivalent items(there are five total) in a row. Once you do, it vanishes and the falling blocks are moved back a bit, and once you zap all items it's on to the next level. Blocks fall from above and the right, not always synchronized, and latch onto the main rectangle. They don't always make your task harder as if you make enough of a certain block disappear you get a Yoshi character which serves as a wild card. There are five block types overall in the regular game, and you cannot let your rectangle get eight height or width or you lose.

The game offers many options at the beginning, where you have a choice of ten rounds, each with ten stages. They get faster and start with larger rectangles as they increase. You can choose between silence and three other types of music as well as block speed. You also have the ability to continue where you left off, which is nice if you want to see the skit that pops up at the end of each round. You use the A button to increase the speed of falling blocks(useful if you are impatient, but after round six you'll ignore it) and the B button and a directional movement to cycle blocks in place a certain way. There's an interesting logical fallacy in this game in that you shouldn't place the cursor(movable as you'd expect, and it can hyperspace from one side to the other if you jump off the rectangle) over the place you ultimately want to move a block. As the blocks cycle around it may also be more efficient to push a block away from its ultimate destination at first, and I always feel satisfied when I find one of these shortcuts. On the downside, as you have to go quickly in the later levels, you will often wind up releasing the button at the wrong time, leaving a block one space too far or near. Another downer, though fair, is that the pause button clears the screen as it stops the game.

Even though much of your success is determined by early tactical moves(knock out several rows quickly before the first wave of blocks comes down,) and you will wind up knocking out a lot of rows you didn't expect to, there is more theory behind the game than most early examples of the genre; note that with five distinct blocks, for every rectangle except 1-by-any, 2-by-2, or 3-by-3 there is always a way to reduce your rectangle if you are quick enough, and once you develop a quick eye you can do so with relatively few moves. This seems relatively fair until you are just about done with the level. Often you'll be stuck with 1- or 2-by-2 rectangles. With a bit of bad luck you may wind up with the blocks falling from above and to the right converging at the same time, giving you a 3-by-3 that can't be reduced. You usually need a lucky block combination to advance a level(it would be even tougher without Yoshis,) and so the mop-up duty is pretty tedious and enervating, especially with blocks coming down fast; a bad randomization in a fast level and suddenly you are stuck with a disorganized 6-by-6 jumble. Wah, no fair, even if the game does slow up then. On the other hand there are advanced finesses such as not making some rows disappear immediately that make low-speed play more of a thinking game.

In the extra levels the blocks change to something less distinguishable; you see the same characters you saw in Yoshi but they look too similar. The characters contain black, white, and minimal tan and red, and they are smaller than in Yoshi, too. There's also a turtle which is green; there are no turtle blocks that fall so you have to wipe it out with Yoshi. However, Yoshi doesn't come around that often, and even when he does, a lot of the time you will be unable to position him correctly to wipe the turtle out. It's an interesting idea, but it gets tedious quickly. There aren't even any amusing skits after you complete rounds 11 and above either. It's the other extreme from the introductory round one where you shouldn't even see blocks falling as you start with rectangles containing two flavors of blocks. It was a good idea, but the creators just didn't gauge the fun factor correctly.

There's not much in the way of graphics for the main part of the game. The blocks are supposedly cookies, with various shades of brown and red adding the main color. You have a heart, a donut, a brown/white checkerboard, a diamond with red jelly in the middle, and a flowery pastry with a brownish jelly circle in the middle. Yoshi adds the main splash of color here. I've already described my frustrations with the graphics in the ''bonus'' stages, but I really was entertained by the skits. In each one Mario runs after a cookie that is rolling away. Usually he doesn't catch it and the ways he fails are amusing even without the offbeat ''Yankee Doodle'' tune in the background. The introductory scene also has a small skit which is nice. Outside of the puzzle area(center) you have red status bars to the right of each cookie shape in the lower right--fill one up and you get a Yoshi. Mario's in the upper right pulling levers and reacts to whatever you do. The multipliers(double value accumulates for each row knocked out, combined with the doubling for row length over two) as vanquished blocks are cycled to the side and below the playing field also serve as subtle compliments(x128, WOW!!) There's enough going on, and there are some practical elements, so the graphics do a solid job.

You have a choice of three background tunes or silence at the beginning of the game and although the silence is pretty unbearable with all the squelching noises from clearing a row, only one of the three tunes(the default) really agreed with me. At pauses in the actions there are short tunes which can be cut by pushing the button, and the introductory tune is a bit like Punch-Out, which I liked. Block-vanishing games can't be too lavish with the sound, and it's not all positive, but given the strong default tune, the sound passes the test.

Yoshi's Cookie is a unique and enjoyable time-waster, and with the options available to continue or start in certain places, you can adjust it to the level of challenge you'd like. This makes up for the exasperation of whittling a rectangle down and waiting for a lucky break to make it vanish, which takes up a bit too much of the game, and when you get a long combination of vanishing rows(if by accident, you just convince yourself that you have your subconscious working well) it is hard not to be pleased. One slower-paced side challenge I also enjoy is figuring how far I can reduce any starting rectangle; on the first level you can make all blocks vanish before anything else comes down, but on later levels you seem to have to settle for winding up with a 1-by-2. Add the creative skits and relatively quick play(each stage takes at most a couple of minutes) into the equation, and the game is worth the frustration near the end of the stages.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/02/01, Updated 12/02/01