"Sometimes life's too short..."

Yoshi's island originally debuted on the SNES - it was a pseudo-sequel to Super Mario World, what it lacked in size it more than made up for in terms of challenge. Most hardcore gamers remember it fondly and even casual gamers like myself enjoyed it! The long-awaited sequel finally showed up on the DS over a decade later, to a positive response. But for me, there are a couple of big issues with this game that ruin it completely.

Story (5) - The basic premise of the game is that Yoshi must take Baby Mario and his peers to safety, kill Kamek etc. Standard Mario/Yoshi fare and periphiral in terms of the game.

Gameplay (8) - The controls are very responsive and simplistic. Collision detection is perfect. The addition of 3 regular and 2 guest babies makes every level approachable in a different way due to the varying attributes they possess. Given that this is a short review I won't go into the differences, but it does help to add a whole new dimension to the gameplay. There are also some very fun elements to this game - the mini-games dotted around certain levels present a refreshing alternative as do some of the set-pieces, one of my favourites being hurtling along in the mine carts!

Graphics/Sound (8) - The Graphics and sound are about as good as you'd expect for a platformer of this nature. Everything is presented very thoughtfully but simple, a hallmark of Nintendo titles.

Play Time/Replayability (4) - Unfortunately, this is where it falls flat for me. I'm not the best gamer but I did play through the original Yoshi's Island, and although it was hard I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've played a large variety of games across multiple platforms over the last 20 years and I've never been so irritated at a game!

Perhaps it's the cutesy presentation that beguiles the truly evil nature of some of the levels. There are several levels where you will lose 10 lives or so - this coupled with the sometimes vast gaps between restart points make the game incredibly frustrating. Once the frustration settles down, boredom takes over. I tried to persevere with the game and got reasonably far, but after being stuck on one level and losing a dozen lives I started to question 'why am I playing this game?' and I couldn't think of a reason. It's a slog.

I don't find it enjoyable. This platformer is distinctly old-skool, a bare-bones affair where each level must be beaten to progress. Compare this to the Mario platformers where you have a map you can navigate, where you can attempt different levels and challenges if one is frustrating you and this game begins to show its limitations.

Overall (6) This is a nine if you like a very hard challenge with little tangible reward apart from the satisfaction you have beaten it. For me, this is a game for the absolute hard core only - there is nothing wrong with a game of this nature (apart from the fact this game will certainly be bought by young kids who might be put of gaming completely) but it ain't for me. I'm taking it to part-exchange with no regrets. Sometimes life is too short, and I haven't got enough hair left to be pulling it out!

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 03/06/08

Game Release: Yoshi's Island DS (EU, 12/01/06)