Topic: IMPRESSIONS: Egg Mania - Eggstreme Madness

[TheYoungerPlumber]

Kemco representatives called it "Reverse Tetris," but that isn't quite enough.  What's it really like?

Egg Mania is an interesting take on the puzzle genre.  Going against the norm, players actually control their character on the screen.  As one of the many Egg-shaped characters, players must catch little blocks falling from the sky and throw them down to the ground, where they expand into one of many Tetris-style shapes.   After touching a falling “mini-block," an outline of its true form appears so players can run and jump to place the block in the desired position, rotating it as needed.  The idea is to build a stable tower and reach the top of the level before your opponent, where a hot-air balloon is waiting.  Power-ups and weapons also fall from the sky, and more difficult levels have various obstacles built into the sides or background.    

I found the sprite-based graphics vibrant and the music acceptable, but I had some issues with the game itself.  The biggest problem (one I heard others commenting on)  is probably the easiest to fix: the controls are simple, but they aren’t well assigned.  To jump, players push up on the control stick, which is not only uncomfortable but also a source of accidental hopping.  As it is, A jumps and B rotates, while the trigger buttons aren’t used at all.  Making A jump, B throw and R/L rotate would make the game much easier to play.  But there was something else nagging me as well: the game didn’t feel like a multi-player game, even when I was playing against a human player.  I was focused on my own half of the screen, and the two halves only interacted when a weapon was present.  An alternate mode where players destroy the enemy’s tower with bombs was much more fun, as players could pick up thrown bombs and send them back at their opponent.  Perhaps upping the frequency of bombs and other offensive weapons would benefit the main game—right now the game is a little monotonous.  For the record, the GBA version plays exactly the same as the console editions, though it supports up to four players and is hindered by the screen’s vertical limitations.    

Kemco’s Egg Mania has potential, but it needs a lot of tweaking and a little more variety if it’s going to be popular.  In its current state, Egg Mania isn’t worth forty or fifty dollars.