Baku Baku Animal

"Beaucoup Beaucoup Ephemeral"

It's hard for a block-drop game to make physical sense but Baku Baku Animal(BBA) does a decent enough job of it. The problem is, the presentation is too simple, it doesn't last long enough, and you don't even get a score. If however you need an afternoon to sit around, barely think, and win something cute and dumb and kiddie, BBA will tide you through. It's a lowest common denominator of two solid games, Puyo Pop and Pac-Attack. You match wits with various toy-land computer opponents, and I found I could beat the hard mode with only a couple of continues.

BBA's gimmick is that certain blocks on the field eat others. The dog eats a bone, the rabbit gets the carrot, pandas chew bamboo stalks, and monkeys eat bananas. In fact if you have a bunch of food squares linked together, the animal will eat all of them, and when everything drops as a result, chain reactions are possible. Animals can even eat other animals while going through the linked food. You gain blocks based on how many food units your animal squares eat and get more if one block sets off several rampages. Blocks are redeemed when your opponent zaps a few squares of his own. Then your spare blocks dump on his board. This is rather evil, as you find out when it happens to you--only good things are supposed to happen when you make things vanish!

Once you're out of moves, you lose. But until then you can chuck 1x2 squares down your well at leisure. These rotate or drop quickly, and given how you can build links there's the tendency to raise the stakes for a quick knockout, but this can come back to shock you. Matches don't take too long--maybe two or three minutes, and they start to accelerate after a bit. Starters will find they've done things right by accident and hour-long veterans will wish there was another animal/food block combo or two. The general strategy should be pretty clear: stick similar food squares together. Don't give animals small meals--that gets you no blocks and lets your opponent dump stuff on you.

Sadly BBA doesn't have much more and the most striking thing about it is the opponent's playfield to your right. It is about two-thirds as big as yours and the SMS's resolution means that you just see full blocks. No wa to tell if your opponent matches something unless you memorize colors. Then when both sides start filling up, often you'll get something to drop by accident, which isn't always good, because then your opponent may get to dump blocks on your playing field.

And on replay it's even lamer. The major differences between hard, normal and practice is the number of enemies you need to defeat to impress the king and win the game. You'll repeat many of the battles, but in fact later opponents show no real tactical differences from earlier ones. They're all pretty easy to fight. No-one is aggressive enough to get that big chain before you do, which makes all the difference.

Still the toys and elves and royalty you need to fight are endearing even if they knock off The Wizard of Oz a bit too much. The dialogue between fights is a bit stale--i.e. you are strong. You may pass over the moat/through the castle gate/to the throne room. And it appears very s-l-o-w-l-y on the screen. So it takes longer than the challenges. Which have some peppy merry go round music to them to make it all breeze by nicely

BBA is clearly made for children with its smiley animal blocks, and to its credit, it encourages much better thinking than today's average game with your favorite cartoon star telegraphing the task to some kid. Older people will enjoy it, too, for the cute concept, but as a puzzle game it doesn't last. After several fights the strategy is easy to master, and then you just wind up losing by chance anyway. It's nice but a bit insipid, like that picture book you made adults read you as a kid.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/04