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Egg Mania: Eggstreme Madness

Score: 90%
ESRB: Everyone
Publisher: Kemco Games
Developer: Kemco Games
Media: DVD/1
Players: 1 - 2
Genre: Puzzle

Graphics & Sound:

Kemco's Egg Mania: Eggstreme Madness (EGG) boasts lovely graphics and sound that makes you feel like you've been sucked right into an arcade machine, as every aspect of the graphics, sound, and user interface resemble one. If you can't handle cute, though, then you might want to avoid this game. Every aspect of EGG exudes cuteness, from the corny egg theme, to the cut scenes that show you a little about each of the egg shaped characters you can play with.

The graphics and sound don't likely push the Xbox's hardware very far, but they are appealing and don't demand improvement. They are tasteful, with pleasant, easy colors, and soft, pleasurable sounds and music. Remember, the theme is cute eggs, so even though the game itself offers limitless possibilities for punishment, it's all presented like it was a kiddy game.


Gameplay:

The basic game mode, Egg Mania, is almost like a reverse Tetris. Instead of completing rows of blocks in order to keep the column clear, you stack blocks up, using an egg shaped character to create a tower of blocks. Once the tower reaches the top of the column, the level is cleared. In addition to the usual rotating blocks or placing them, you can also throw them away. This unusual but useful feature allows you to streamline game play, but at the cost of added time. Almost all modes involve competitive play, either against another person or a computer opponent, so the first player to reach the top is the winner.

In Tetris, gaps between blocks keep the player from being able to easily clear the entire column, but gaps in EGG do not hinder the game in the same way. Since the bottom of the column is comprised of water, gaps let the water make its way up the tower, and can cause the rows with gaps to be destroyed. This, in turn, will impede the egg's progress, and waste precious time. To fill the gaps, you can make your egg character jump off the tower and place blocks in them, which offers an interesting twist on game play, but again, costs time as you have to wait for the egg character to make its way back up the tower.

A number of Trick Bricks fall or can be tossed into your column by your opponent. Some allow the egg character to jump higher or they automatically fills in gaps, while others can be thrown into your opponent's column, and can stun him or destroy some of his blocks.

In addition to the basic game mode, there are others, including one where your goal is to bomb your opponent's tower, a less exciting Solo mode, and the never ending Survival mode. In addition, EGG offers the awesome Custom mode, which lets you tailor the game play to your liking.


Difficulty:

Eggmania offers a number of difficulty settings, from the ridiculously easy Over Easy, to three different Hard Boiled settings. Game play is deceptively simple, but the harder levels and settings are fast and furious, and you can easily become overwhelmed.

Getting used to the various Trick Bricks and the feature that allows you to throw away blocks can take some time, but once you master them, the game becomes far easier.


Game Mechanics:

EGG makes good use of the Xbox controller, allowing you to easily rotate and place blocks, drop them, or fill in gaps using them. The screens that allow you to select game modes and difficulty settings is clear and easy to use.

Egg Mania: Eggstreme Madness is a great arcade style game. As mentioned above, if you can't handle cute, then you should definitely avoid it. But if you don't mind wimpy music and soft colors, and long for devilishly simple but addictive game play, then I highly recommend it.


-Gordy, GameVortex Communications
AKA Gary Lucero

Microsoft Xbox Defender Microsoft Xbox Furious Karting

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated