Metareview: Yoshi's Island DS

by David Hinkle { Nov 14th 2006 at 1:15PM }

One of the most anticipated titles for the DS this holiday season, Yoshi's Island DS brings back the colorful island that is home to the all-eating, egg-producing creatures. With the sudden appearance of a mysterious island floating above the home of the Yoshis, all of the school's children go missing save for three. Those three are Baby Mario, Baby Peach, and Baby Donkey Kong. Now, it's up to the trio, as well as their pal Yoshi, to rescue the children and discover the secrets of the floating island.

IGN - 80%: "It sets out to emulate everything that made the first game so great, and does a really good job doing that. But it runs into the problem of not doing enough to make it its own game. No huge surprises, and no significant additions to the genre...it's just a solid recreation of the Yoshi's Island elements in a two-screen-high format. It's fun and challenging with a couple of unpolished quirks."

Gamespot - 91%: "It's hard to top a masterpiece, but that's just what Nintendo and Artoon have done with Yoshi's Island DS. By incorporating one major new feature and leaving everything else alone, they've produced a sequel that seems fresh and new while remaining every bit as awesome as the original. If you enjoy side-scrolling platformers, you have to play this one."

GameDaily - 90%: "Instead of going overboard with the new features, Yoshi's Island DS sticks to its roots, never forgetting what made the original such a beloved classic. The game's beautiful visual style is complimented by the personality of the characters, and both combine to form a wonderful adventure that can be enjoyed by any Mario fan."

Tags: ds, dslite, island, lite, metareview, nintendo, nintendods, yoshi's, yoshi'sisland, yoshis, yoshisislandds

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Tush @ Nov 14th 2006 3:32PM

The music and sound effects are quite weak though. Quite uneven and generic. The original had such lively sounds and music, it really was immersive and the levels felt like they were alive.

Don't get me wrong the game is pretty fun and is worth the money, but it's just missing that polish that the original had.

(this impression was taken after the first few levels, I hope that my opinion changes)

I like the way they have thought about the physical DS device and decided to program in the gap bwteen screens.

This makes aiming much easier, although it does introduce some dead space, as decribed here:
http://gamepeople.wordpress.com/2006/11/10/reality-gap/