| Introduction
Tiny Toon Adventures was unleashed on the world quite
some years ago now and this Spielburg produced cartoon
shows no signs of losing popularity. Taking Warner Brothers
classic characters and viewing them as children has
been a huge hit and has spawned spin offs including
Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain. This is one of many
Warner Kids titles that SWING will be releasing this
year but unlike the others this is a puzzler.
GamePlay
The game concept really couldn't be simpler and your
object is to arrange falling 'Dodo eggs' into various
patterns and colors and er... well, that's it. At least
it is on a fairly simplistic level. Obviously you have
the speed aspect and the fact that the game becomes
more challenging as the areas fill up and there are
also ACME coins to be earned which can be incredibly
helpful later on in the game. You earn these by completing
combos or creating a giant egg, which usually isn't
that difficult, and this results in a friend being available
to help. The more coins you've collected the better
and more effective the help will be. This could be the
Dizzy Devil who'll clear the bottom two rows of eggs
or Gogo who'll clear the centre column.
Even when you've exhausted the standard game there's
still a lot more gameplay to be had with the other modes
on offer. Puzzle Mode challenges you to clear all the
eggs in the play area in a given number of tries. This
gets more difficult when obstacles are thrown into the
equation or when trying to solve the puzzle with one
attempt. Survival Mode is basically a game of endurance
where you must continue to clear lines of eggs as they
come faster and faster. Multiplayer Mode is self-explanatory
and allows games to be played against a 'real' person.
The real bonus here is that you only require a single
copy of the game to enjoy one of the best things about
the GBA.
Controls
There's absolutely nothing difficult or challenging
here so you'll be at home with the controls almost instantly.
Anyone who's played the likes of Tetris will recognize
the controls layout in seconds and as simplicity of
control is such an important gameplay aspect here SWING
have wisely allowed the puzzles to take priority.
Graphics
If you've ever seen the cartoon series this title
takes its inspiration from you'll know exactly what
to expect in the visuals department. Everything is bold
and colorful which aids the gameplay a great deal. These
are also lots of very nice screen grabs from the original
series as well as some wonderfully humorous animation
whenever you call up one of your numerous friends in
the bonus mode. Overall a great looking title that kids
and adults alike will enjoy.
Sound & Music
The audio kicks off with a fantastic rendition of
the series theme music and the in-game sounds are just
as good with more than a few borrowed from the ACME
sound library. This is all highly unusual as puzzlers
usually have minimal audio as gamers tend to find it
distracting. Here in Wacky Stackers though it just seems
to enhance the gameplay which really is no bad thing.
Final Comments
If you enjoyed Tetris and the recently released Columns
Crown you'll no doubt enjoy this offering from SWING.
There's nothing really original here but it does manage
to extract the best elements from a number of titles
and pour them into one cart. The highlight is undoubtedly
the well crafted multiplayer option which will have
your heart racing and fingers throbbing as well as providing
a reasonable grey matter workout. A great title then
and while maybe not for everyone puzzle addicts should
definitely give it a look.
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