Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine is a puzzle game much like Tetris, but makes it that bit more exciting I think. Tetris was excellent, don't get me wrong, but it bored me. This game has improved on the boredomness (if that's a word) of the age old block game with beans. Cool little Beans that you have to free up on your screen. To do this you must get four of the same colour bean in any type of combination you can get it, as long as they are all touching. The beans will disappear. If you're really smart, you can go for combos. A example of an upcoming combo is above. See how it's done?
There are three modes you can access on the Mega Drive version. The first is Scenario mode, where you have to battle each of Robotnik's robot henchmen to the 13th level, where you fight Robotnik himself for bean freedom. You get passwords along the way, which is handy. The computer can be very vicious depending on what difficulty and level you're on. If you or your opponent manage to successfully link four or more beans, refugee beans will appear in the opponents screen. Refugee beans will only disappear with an adjacent group of beans linked together. These clear bubbles could mean the difference between you winning and losing.
There is also Versus mode, where you and a friend can battle for the beans (how cliched...) with Has-bean (a robot bean on your side) cheering you on. This will be where dirty tactics come in, so block your mate's screen before they do to yours! On the Game Gear, you need a link cable in order to play a Versus mode.
Finally, there is Exercise mode, for those wanting to hone their bean skills to the max. You can choose to play with an empty screen (beginners stuff) or you can choose either Normal or Hard setting. Practicing on these difficulties result in part of the screen filled with Refugee beans, hence Hard difficulty.
There are significant differences in the Game Gear version, first of all the graphics are considerably crapper, but you hardly notice that within about half an hour of play. also, exclusive to Game Gear owners, there is Puzzle Mode. This has you trying to accomplish certain beany tasks to proceed to the next 'Lesson'. Again, there are passwords given out. Some of the levels are easy, but some are pure evil. Evil, evil...
This game takes a great twist on puzzle games, and makes it toally and utterly addictive! The difficulty levels will ensure that you just have to challenge the computer one last time. However, the multi-player lacks any real innovation from the main game, and can get boring quite quickly after a few goes. Aside from that, this is a now rare puzzler that's more than worth your money, if you're a hardcore puzzle fan, that is.
Sonic Score: 7 out of 10!
Agree? Disagree? Submit your own review!
See other Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine Sections
<-- GO BACK
'SSNG' © Dread & Andrew. 'Dreadknux' and 'The Sonic Stadium' © Svend VJ. 'Sonic News' is © Andrew P. Content © SVJ/AP. Sonic the Hedgehog © Sega.
|
