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Baku Baku |
Saturn |
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Review by Jeff Cooper |
Sega |
Puzzle |
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Graphics: |
Sound: |
Gameplay: |
Overall: |
| Baku Baku is a nice little puzzler for the Saturn,
one that borrows heavily from Pac Attack and cribs a bit from Bust
A Move and Columns as well. The game is simple to pick up.
Little animal heads and various food items drop down in pairs. You can
rotate the pair as it drops (a la Pac Attack) and your objective is
to set up a chain of food and then drop the appropriate animal head upon
it. For example, you might try to set up a horizontal chain of doggie
bones and then drop a dog symbol on it. The dog head will then "come
to life" and eat all the bones. Anything on top of the horizontal
line will, of course, drop. If you've set things up correctly, you can
create chain reactions, as in Klax or Columns: the departure
of the dog bones will cause a rabbit head to fall on some carrots, which
in turn will drop a panda on some bamboo blocks, and so on. Each contest
pits the gamer against either the computer or another player. The action
is split screen, and every time you pull off a major munch move, a pile of
food gets dumped onto your opponent's screen (hence the comparison to Bust
A Move). As is the case in many of these puzzlers, once your screen
fills to the top, it's G.O., Game Over.
The graphics in this program are definitely 32-bit, and it's nice to see a puzzler with visuals that are more than just perfunctory. On the other hand, practically every gamer understands that graphics mean very little in a puzzler. I rate the game play as better than average for this kind of contest. Baku Baku is better than Pac Attack, but clearly a cut below Bust A Move and Tetris, which, in my book, tower above all the spin offs. If you're a huge puzzler fan, or if you're wild about Pac Attack, you may want to rush out and buy this. Otherwise, give it a rent first. |