Yoshi's Story

Summary

Genre: Platform
Number of players: 1
Rumble Pak: Yes
Controller Pak: No
Expansion Pak: Not used

Review

Everybody's favourite hermaphrodite Yoshi, who debuted in the SNES's Super Mario World and who has gone on to feature in several other games, most notably the excellent Yoshi's Island for the SNES, stars in his very own N64 game, called (as you no doubt noticed) Yoshi's Story. You take control of one of six different-coloured Yoshis and crusade through six levels in your quest to take down the evil Baby Bowser and become Super Happy. Yippee.


Gameplay: Those who've played Yoshi's Island will have no problem getting to grips with the control and premise of Yoshi's Story. Yoshi can jump around several times his own height, perform a mid-air floating move, and consume bad guys using his tongue, causing him to instantly lay an egg (see, hermaphrodite!) which can be used as a formidable weapon. Yoshi controls very well, is highly responsive, and aiming the eggs is a lot easier than it was in Yoshi's island, thanks to the N64 analogue stick. Besides eating bad guys, Yoshi's tongue can also be used to grip special balls and pull him on top of them, and also to grab fruit.

It's this fruit-grabbing scheme which marks the biggest departure from Yoshi's Island. For in Yoshi's Story, your aim is not to reach the end of the level, but rather to find and eat 30 pieces of fruit. Yep, that's right. Apparently this makes the Yoshis happy, which naturally means they win the level. In each level, there is an abundance of this pleasure-giving food, and fruit comes in five different varieties: apples, bananas, melons, watermelons, and grapes. The different fruit types are important in that each colour of Yoshi has its own 'favourite' fruit which gives a higher score when eaten, plus restores more health. In addition, at the start of the game you select a 'lucky fruit', which gives even more score and health when eaten. Finally, the melon is the best fruit, since it gives a score 100 times that of regular fruit. It is possible to collect only melons in each level, since there are 30 of them per stage, while there are only 6 or 12 of the other fruits, and this gives the highest score.

This strange premise makes for a radical departure from your standard platform fare, encouraging much exploration, particularly to unearth the well-hidden melons. Each level has a lot of varied things to do, such as hitching a ride on a flying worm or a dragon, racing through a part of the level against the clock to win prizes, carrying a stack of melon crates to a finish line without dropping them, crossing a lava sea on a rolling rock, exploring a waterlogged maze, and more. Many puzzles and challenges are great fun to play, and there is a lot of difference between each level.

However, one thing which lets the gameplay down is the massive simplification from the impressively complex Yoshi's Island. In Yoshi's Story, there are far fewer things that Yoshi can do. There are no collectible power-ups, no hidden mini-battles, no transformations, no egg-redirecting blocks, and the automatic swallowing of any licked bad guys. While Yoshi does play very well, the absence of all these great features from Yoshi's previous platformer, and the introduction of very few new features to make up for this, leads to the game seeming rather flat, and greatly reduces the fun factor.


Challenge: To be blunt, Yoshi's Story is about as easy as they come. Completing a level is no problem whatsoever, with the possible exception of one or two levels, such as the one with the deadly leaping fish and the one with the rolling log with holes in it. However, these levels are more annoying than satisfyingly difficult. The game bosses who crop up twice are an absolute cinch to defeat, even the final boss.

There is only really one challenge in the game, and that's trying to finish a level by collecting only melons. To do this, you have to hunt in every corner of the level, finish all the races and challenges perfectly, and not eat any other fruit by mistake. This can actually get quite difficult, but there's little real incentive to do this, other than in 'Trial Mode', where you choose a single unlocked level to try and get the highest score in.

Sadly, though, Yoshi's Story is not one bit as challenging as its predecessor, and as such will be completed far too quickly. Replay value is alright, though, particularly since you can only visit six of the 24 levels during a single playthrough, and unlocking levels requires the collection of hidden Heart items in the previous stage. Nonetheless, it's not that hard to do, and the main 'story' mode suffers greatly by being composed of only six levels, compared to the 48 (plus six hidden) levels in Yoshi's Island. Not a good showing.


Graphics: In fairness to the game, it must be said that the graphics are excellent, undoubtedly the best seen in a 2D platformer. Everything looks absolutely gorgeous and clear, with a massive variety in graphical style in each level. Animation is great, too, and you really couldn't improve on the graphics in any way. Top stuff.


Sounds: The music is alright, and fairly good, although in places it feels a little bland and spartan. Generally, though, the music fits its particular level well, and the mood of the game as a whole. Sound effects are okay too, although the squeals of delight and the out-of-tune singing of the Yoshis themselves does wear mighty thin. But overall, the sounds are solid enough and provide a good accompaniment to the rest of the game.


Summing up: The game plays well, although not nearly as well as in the SNES predecessor, but the challenge is woefully lacking, and the game simply won't last. Graphics are terrific and sounds are fine, but that doesn't compensate for the short lifespan of the game. It could, and should, have been so much more.


Gamesmark: 73%


Reviewer: Maverik