A Frozen Treat

Singelli

Level: 161

POSTS: 3137/8698
POST EXP: 1189395
LVL EXP: 53051767
CP: 67331.7
VIZ: 3147678

Likes: 0 Dislikes: 0

Overall: 6.5/10

Yet another great arcade game, Meikyu Jima seems to be a jewel of its time. Although my overall score may be a little misleading, I think this game is absolutely awesome, and the main reason for the low score is due to the music category in and of itself. Only ever reproduced for one additional system (the NES), Meikyu Jima is a game all about timing, patterns, placements, and reflexes.

In this game, you play a little snowball wearing earmuffs who wants to gather pouches for some reason. Since the game is in Japanese, I'm not sure what the bags contain, but our hero (Kinkle) certainly wants them, and I imagine to save his icy world from some fate. While trying to gather these bags, he's got to navigate logic puzzles by placing and pushing ice blocks, dodging enemies, swinging mallets, and making use of large springs. He can also place buttons as barriers or navigational tools, and the during our hero's whole adventure, he must avoid death by his own schemes.

The great thing is that the puzzles in this game really are difficult, so my affinity for puzzles games was really magnified by the challenge Meikyu Jima provides. So many aspects affect the main character's success that they must all be considered, and thus, playing this game will greatly exercise your mind.

GRAPHICS: 8/10
First, let's talk about the environment. The graphics of this game are alluringly colorful, with each stage having its own theme of dark and light tiles which signify various heights of the stage. Now, when I do speak of tile heights, there aren't differing heights of characters and places to play. However, lighter colors are areas in which only bad guys can travel. Those bad guys treat the darker tiles as walls, although the hero of the game can travel over dark and light tiles alike. This is why I viewed the two colors as representing two heights;the lighter tiles were an area of containment for enemies, set slightly lower than the darker colored tiles.

Throughout the stages, there are a few common environmental elements. For example, at least half of the levels contain springs. These were possibly the worst designed items in my opinion. They looked like bullet heads with a striped protrusion of clashing color. In addition, sometimes these springs were the same color as the level's tiled floor, making them even less appealing. All other aspects of each stage motif were done well. 'Bricks' that form walls are well rounded, each one using about six different shades of the same color to give its 3D effect. Likewise, the hero can build or destroy 'buttons' which also have nice shading. However, their designs is slightly different in that they have a distinct line to define the rounded corners. As small as this detail was, I noticed it and was impressed by it.

Some levels even had triangle shaped wall bricks, and these alone made it clear that the artists were all about detail. Squares are pretty generic when it comes to viewing them from various sides, but triangles require a totally different perspective. A separate graphic was created for each triangle wall that faced left, right, upwards, or downwards. Each design accurately reflected the perspective the viewer of the scene would have.

Since the game takes place on little island of ice, another aspect of the game would obviously have to be water. Although the water graphics consisted of the same 10x10 pixelated square being repeated, the 'motion' of these pixels does a nice job of mimicking waves. Although the water movement is nothing like the graphics we see today, I'd have to say the graphics for waves (in this game) have a subtle charm that makes them better than many games of their day.

However, it's a small detail of the game which drew me in the most and impressed the socks off of me. In most levels, there are circular holes in the ice which open up to the sea underneath. The holes have a shadow which aptly shows the depth of the tile, giving it a very impressive 3D affect which really convinces the player that the hero is standing on a floating island of ice. This simple detail was astounding to me, and I really appreciated it.

Similarly to other tile games like tetris, the floor and island shapes often made patterns and pictures. I actually didn't notice this until one stage stood out to me as having the number 5963 formed by the wall tiles (Disclaimer: It might have been a different number, as I can't find where I wrote the number down.) I love little things like this and I can't help but wonder what that number signified. I highly doubt it was some random number, and I wonder if the meaning of it has been lost over the years. Anyways, this sight caused me to keep an eye peeled, and I saw other shapes like a man's head wearing glasses, a sailboat, a tea kettle, a spinning top, and a mallet.

Next, let's discuss enemy and bonus sprites. Most sprites, I felt were clear and identifiable. The most common nemesis was a icy blue ball, and the next most common baddie was a brightly colored rooster who looks cool in a pair of shades. Occasionally though, there were suits of red armor carrying gray shields and skimpy swords that are almost impossible to notice, spinning spike balls that move far too quickly and don't spin very convincingly, critters resembling a beavers, purple owls ( ? ) wearing hard hats, and turrets that shoot unimpressive and two-toned fireballs. Kinkle, the hero of the game, can freeze most of the enemies and the ice sculptures of each sprite is equally as cute as the original. Another favorite graphical aspect of mine, I LOVE the baddies' expressions as Kinkle approaches them or a block gets pushed in their direction. They stress and their eyes widen humongously before they turn to run away. They react the same way to walls that surround them, and the 'awww' factor almost makes the game worth playing all by itself.

How about our hero, Kinkle? I actually don't think he's all that cute, and I'm not even sure what he's supposed to be. If I go with the whole ice land theme, I'd guess he was a big-eyed snowball who wears red snowboots and yellow earmuffs. Even the collectible sprites are pretty awesome. Most of them seem to follow the theme of 'ice cream', and although they are very tiny graphics, they are easily identifiable. Some of them include bowls of ice cream with cherries, bowls of ice cream with a spoon, popsicles, sharp ice cream cones, and square ice cream cones. Only a few were hard to recognize, but by other mini-themes in the game, I'd have to guess one of them is a seashell, and another is a teapot. Although most of these are simply for the sake of increasing high scores, there is one sprite which turns all bad guys into frozen blocks of ice. I like to think of this collectible as being Kinkle's counterpart: a female snowball who wears a red skirt and a red flower on her head. her design is even worse than Kinkle's however and I'm probably quite far off.

Finally, in terms of sprites, there are the mini bosses and bosses to consider. These, in my opinion, are the worst graphics of all and feel as though they were designed for some other game. The scene surrounding each mini-boss is identical, sporting an image on the floor of an old man who appears in the cut scenes. Two bosses were nearly unrecognizable as anything at all, but one seemed to be a skeleton wearing a purple robe and another represented a frog with a very long tail made of round balls and a stinger. The main boss, however, is worst of all. He seems to be a really fat guy wearing a loin cloth and ankle bands, with tufts of black hair sticking up out of his ears. Even worse, he seems to be drinking out of a bottle and his form of attack seems to be puffs of bad breath directed towards Kinkle.

Despite the poorly designed bad guys though, the graphics as a whole are rather nice. The main shame is that the hero is not better designed so that he can truly be a in the spot light, and this is why I rated this category with an 8 as opposed to a 9.

SOUND: (5/10)
Thank heavens for the game's graphics and puzzles, because the sound alone would be enough to keep me from playing the game all the way through. Like most arcade games of its time (at least, in my opinion), I found the music to be almost unbearable.

The quality isn't great at all considering what was possible in its day, and only parts of the tune are catchy. However, it's also very strange, and the catchy part is rather short. The music starts off with a few bass notes (sort of like two single heart beats) that don't mesh well with the next part: light hearted and suitable to the bright colors. However, that 20 second refrain only repeats twice before turning into a more and more techno style beat. The more techno it gets, the more random the notes seem, and the more discordant the music becomes. With two last beats that make my ear want to bleed, the music finally loops back around after maybe 2 minutes. While I can appreciate the length of the tune, I can't stand the fact that... yet again... this song is the ONLY one throughout the ENTIRE game (excluding the four boss levels). That means that unless you mute the sound, you have to listen to the random, techno, low quality beats through 36 rounds. Also, like most arcade games, the music speeds up as you run out of time.. as though the song couldn't get any more annoying.The only break from this head splitting music is honestly no break at all. Each boss seems to have a its own uniquely designed tune. While this music fits the scene, it's quite possibly more annoying than the main them song. It sounds very much like music from fighting scrollers.

There were many small noises in the game: annoying whirlwind noises when Kinkle enters the stage from a cloud, funny splashes when things are pushed into the water, a soft 'psh' noise when enemies are squashed, a bubbling noise when buttons are created, a sound reminiscent of every coin collecting game when Kinkle picks up a collectible, and spawning bad guys make a small musical note when they spawn. Most of the sound affects in the game are what I was describe as 'soft'. Although there are more than I have mentioned, here is the problem: the music overwhelms all sound. Whoever put the sound board together didn't pay mind to the volumes..... either that, or they were awfully proud of the horrible music and wanted to show it off! None of the sounds get a chance to shine under the loud beat.

My favorite two noises were also surprisingly small details in the game. After Kinkle freezes his enemies, the ice representatives may be shattered and the sound is indicative of the event. The other sound which I found surprisingly nice is that of the spring compressing and being released. Even though the spring is one of the worst graphical aspects, I found it to be one of the best in terms of sound.

ADDICTIVENESS: 7/10
Mute the game, and this is one you won't be able to get enough of... especially if you enjoy puzzle games. There are so many little things that affect the routes you will take, and the variety is part of what drew me to this game. For example, mallets will swing around and push blocks in different directions, baddies will kick your blocks around, and springs will push them around. Even the bags of money can get pushed around by enemy sprites. While none of this changes the game play by too much, it does require you to change your strategy from time to time, keeping the game fresh.

Another thing which kept me playing Meikyu Jima was the fact that it discourages rage quitting, to some extent. You see, even if you mess up the placement of your ice block, a new enemy will spawn so that you can create another block to make up for the lost one. Therefore, if you mess up, it's feasible to keep going, instead of quitting and starting the round over.

I'm wouldn't say that it has much replay value though, which is also a part of the reason for the mediocre score.

STORY: N/A
Unfortunately, the game is in Japanese, and so it's impossible to tell what the story actually is. I even tried googling the game, but I didn't find anything. However, it seems like the typical game of: 'evil forces have taken over this icy fantasy land and you need to collect such and such items to defeat the bad guys.' Therefore, if I was going to venture an unfair rating, I'd probably give it a 5/10 for lack of originality. Besides that, after Kinkle beats each mini-boss, he goes to visit the 'good guy' in the clouds... and it's always the exact same cut scene which shows. I imagine the text is different, but it would have been nice to get more visual clues as to what the story was about.

DEPTH: 7/10
As mentioned before, I really appreciate the fact that so many facets affect the play of the game. As a player, you're put in a position to actual think things through and chose an approach after watching patterns and taking a look at all objects on the stages. You have to consider how various things on the map might affect the placements of your blocks. The complexity is pretty nice, but there are only 40 levels.

While 40 levels is a pretty decent number, it's not as though new ideas get introduced into the game. The puzzles get progressively more challenging (with the last two levels being ridiculously easy), but there are no new hurdles to consider when coming up with your plan. Thus, while the game has depth, that depth is very limited.

DIFFICULTY: 7/10
If you knew how to solve every puzzle and didn't have to guess and check a whole lot, I imagine a gamer could finish this game in about 90 minutes. I do think the puzzles are a bit more difficult than most puzzle games of the same sort, however. Especially in the later levels, there are so many enemies and sliding ice blocks to avoid, that movement has to be very carefully planned. There are even times when you can't move forward unless you place buttons in front of you as a barrier. And even then, you have to time your button removal and creation just right... so that you won't get caught in turret fire. Hence, the game play ends up being a meticulous study of everything in the stages.

In order to solve the puzzles, you also have to pay attention to the stage map. For example, ice blocks will fall into square holes and solidify into a floor tile, but ice blocks will simply slide over a circular hole. Mallets will always swing blocks into the next cardinal direction going clockwise, but many times a block will slide from hammer to hammer, meaning you must have all the hammers turned the correct ways to start with. Sometimes, pushing blocks into a certain place isn't even enough to access a particular point, and you have to stack multiple blocks against each other... which means studying the baddies' paths and determining when you should freeze and push them. Lots of details like this are what create the challenge of the game, and there are no power-ups other than the female snowball. I love the fact that you must use your brain to play successfully, and I wouldn't change it's level of difficulty even if I as able.

Overall, I really do think this is a great game. It has a few disappointments, but my biggest complain would have to be the music. That's a problem easily solved though, and so it's not a reason to avoid the game. If you like quick puzzlers, this might be a game you'd enjoy checking out.

Overall: 6.5/10

Yet another great arcade game, Meikyu Jima seems to be a jewel of its time. Although my overall score may be a little misleading, I think this game is absolutely awesome, and the main reason for the low score is due to the music category in and of itself. Only ever reproduced for one additional system (the NES), Meikyu Jima is a game all about timing, patterns, placements, and reflexes.

In this game, you play a little snowball wearing earmuffs who wants to gather pouches for some reason. Since the game is in Japanese, I'm not sure what the bags contain, but our hero (Kinkle) certainly wants them, and I imagine to save his icy world from some fate. While trying to gather these bags, he's got to navigate logic puzzles by placing and pushing ice blocks, dodging enemies, swinging mallets, and making use of large springs. He can also place buttons as barriers or navigational tools, and the during our hero's whole adventure, he must avoid death by his own schemes.

The great thing is that the puzzles in this game really are difficult, so my affinity for puzzles games was really magnified by the challenge Meikyu Jima provides. So many aspects affect the main character's success that they must all be considered, and thus, playing this game will greatly exercise your mind.

GRAPHICS: 8/10
First, let's talk about the environment. The graphics of this game are alluringly colorful, with each stage having its own theme of dark and light tiles which signify various heights of the stage. Now, when I do speak of tile heights, there aren't differing heights of characters and places to play. However, lighter colors are areas in which only bad guys can travel. Those bad guys treat the darker tiles as walls, although the hero of the game can travel over dark and light tiles alike. This is why I viewed the two colors as representing two heights;the lighter tiles were an area of containment for enemies, set slightly lower than the darker colored tiles.

Throughout the stages, there are a few common environmental elements. For example, at least half of the levels contain springs. These were possibly the worst designed items in my opinion. They looked like bullet heads with a striped protrusion of clashing color. In addition, sometimes these springs were the same color as the level's tiled floor, making them even less appealing. All other aspects of each stage motif were done well. 'Bricks' that form walls are well rounded, each one using about six different shades of the same color to give its 3D effect. Likewise, the hero can build or destroy 'buttons' which also have nice shading. However, their designs is slightly different in that they have a distinct line to define the rounded corners. As small as this detail was, I noticed it and was impressed by it.

Some levels even had triangle shaped wall bricks, and these alone made it clear that the artists were all about detail. Squares are pretty generic when it comes to viewing them from various sides, but triangles require a totally different perspective. A separate graphic was created for each triangle wall that faced left, right, upwards, or downwards. Each design accurately reflected the perspective the viewer of the scene would have.

Since the game takes place on little island of ice, another aspect of the game would obviously have to be water. Although the water graphics consisted of the same 10x10 pixelated square being repeated, the 'motion' of these pixels does a nice job of mimicking waves. Although the water movement is nothing like the graphics we see today, I'd have to say the graphics for waves (in this game) have a subtle charm that makes them better than many games of their day.

However, it's a small detail of the game which drew me in the most and impressed the socks off of me. In most levels, there are circular holes in the ice which open up to the sea underneath. The holes have a shadow which aptly shows the depth of the tile, giving it a very impressive 3D affect which really convinces the player that the hero is standing on a floating island of ice. This simple detail was astounding to me, and I really appreciated it.

Similarly to other tile games like tetris, the floor and island shapes often made patterns and pictures. I actually didn't notice this until one stage stood out to me as having the number 5963 formed by the wall tiles (Disclaimer: It might have been a different number, as I can't find where I wrote the number down.) I love little things like this and I can't help but wonder what that number signified. I highly doubt it was some random number, and I wonder if the meaning of it has been lost over the years. Anyways, this sight caused me to keep an eye peeled, and I saw other shapes like a man's head wearing glasses, a sailboat, a tea kettle, a spinning top, and a mallet.

Next, let's discuss enemy and bonus sprites. Most sprites, I felt were clear and identifiable. The most common nemesis was a icy blue ball, and the next most common baddie was a brightly colored rooster who looks cool in a pair of shades. Occasionally though, there were suits of red armor carrying gray shields and skimpy swords that are almost impossible to notice, spinning spike balls that move far too quickly and don't spin very convincingly, critters resembling a beavers, purple owls ( ? ) wearing hard hats, and turrets that shoot unimpressive and two-toned fireballs. Kinkle, the hero of the game, can freeze most of the enemies and the ice sculptures of each sprite is equally as cute as the original. Another favorite graphical aspect of mine, I LOVE the baddies' expressions as Kinkle approaches them or a block gets pushed in their direction. They stress and their eyes widen humongously before they turn to run away. They react the same way to walls that surround them, and the 'awww' factor almost makes the game worth playing all by itself.

How about our hero, Kinkle? I actually don't think he's all that cute, and I'm not even sure what he's supposed to be. If I go with the whole ice land theme, I'd guess he was a big-eyed snowball who wears red snowboots and yellow earmuffs. Even the collectible sprites are pretty awesome. Most of them seem to follow the theme of 'ice cream', and although they are very tiny graphics, they are easily identifiable. Some of them include bowls of ice cream with cherries, bowls of ice cream with a spoon, popsicles, sharp ice cream cones, and square ice cream cones. Only a few were hard to recognize, but by other mini-themes in the game, I'd have to guess one of them is a seashell, and another is a teapot. Although most of these are simply for the sake of increasing high scores, there is one sprite which turns all bad guys into frozen blocks of ice. I like to think of this collectible as being Kinkle's counterpart: a female snowball who wears a red skirt and a red flower on her head. her design is even worse than Kinkle's however and I'm probably quite far off.

Finally, in terms of sprites, there are the mini bosses and bosses to consider. These, in my opinion, are the worst graphics of all and feel as though they were designed for some other game. The scene surrounding each mini-boss is identical, sporting an image on the floor of an old man who appears in the cut scenes. Two bosses were nearly unrecognizable as anything at all, but one seemed to be a skeleton wearing a purple robe and another represented a frog with a very long tail made of round balls and a stinger. The main boss, however, is worst of all. He seems to be a really fat guy wearing a loin cloth and ankle bands, with tufts of black hair sticking up out of his ears. Even worse, he seems to be drinking out of a bottle and his form of attack seems to be puffs of bad breath directed towards Kinkle.

Despite the poorly designed bad guys though, the graphics as a whole are rather nice. The main shame is that the hero is not better designed so that he can truly be a in the spot light, and this is why I rated this category with an 8 as opposed to a 9.

SOUND: (5/10)
Thank heavens for the game's graphics and puzzles, because the sound alone would be enough to keep me from playing the game all the way through. Like most arcade games of its time (at least, in my opinion), I found the music to be almost unbearable.

The quality isn't great at all considering what was possible in its day, and only parts of the tune are catchy. However, it's also very strange, and the catchy part is rather short. The music starts off with a few bass notes (sort of like two single heart beats) that don't mesh well with the next part: light hearted and suitable to the bright colors. However, that 20 second refrain only repeats twice before turning into a more and more techno style beat. The more techno it gets, the more random the notes seem, and the more discordant the music becomes. With two last beats that make my ear want to bleed, the music finally loops back around after maybe 2 minutes. While I can appreciate the length of the tune, I can't stand the fact that... yet again... this song is the ONLY one throughout the ENTIRE game (excluding the four boss levels). That means that unless you mute the sound, you have to listen to the random, techno, low quality beats through 36 rounds. Also, like most arcade games, the music speeds up as you run out of time.. as though the song couldn't get any more annoying.The only break from this head splitting music is honestly no break at all. Each boss seems to have a its own uniquely designed tune. While this music fits the scene, it's quite possibly more annoying than the main them song. It sounds very much like music from fighting scrollers.

There were many small noises in the game: annoying whirlwind noises when Kinkle enters the stage from a cloud, funny splashes when things are pushed into the water, a soft 'psh' noise when enemies are squashed, a bubbling noise when buttons are created, a sound reminiscent of every coin collecting game when Kinkle picks up a collectible, and spawning bad guys make a small musical note when they spawn. Most of the sound affects in the game are what I was describe as 'soft'. Although there are more than I have mentioned, here is the problem: the music overwhelms all sound. Whoever put the sound board together didn't pay mind to the volumes..... either that, or they were awfully proud of the horrible music and wanted to show it off! None of the sounds get a chance to shine under the loud beat.

My favorite two noises were also surprisingly small details in the game. After Kinkle freezes his enemies, the ice representatives may be shattered and the sound is indicative of the event. The other sound which I found surprisingly nice is that of the spring compressing and being released. Even though the spring is one of the worst graphical aspects, I found it to be one of the best in terms of sound.

ADDICTIVENESS: 7/10
Mute the game, and this is one you won't be able to get enough of... especially if you enjoy puzzle games. There are so many little things that affect the routes you will take, and the variety is part of what drew me to this game. For example, mallets will swing around and push blocks in different directions, baddies will kick your blocks around, and springs will push them around. Even the bags of money can get pushed around by enemy sprites. While none of this changes the game play by too much, it does require you to change your strategy from time to time, keeping the game fresh.

Another thing which kept me playing Meikyu Jima was the fact that it discourages rage quitting, to some extent. You see, even if you mess up the placement of your ice block, a new enemy will spawn so that you can create another block to make up for the lost one. Therefore, if you mess up, it's feasible to keep going, instead of quitting and starting the round over.

I'm wouldn't say that it has much replay value though, which is also a part of the reason for the mediocre score.

STORY: N/A
Unfortunately, the game is in Japanese, and so it's impossible to tell what the story actually is. I even tried googling the game, but I didn't find anything. However, it seems like the typical game of: 'evil forces have taken over this icy fantasy land and you need to collect such and such items to defeat the bad guys.' Therefore, if I was going to venture an unfair rating, I'd probably give it a 5/10 for lack of originality. Besides that, after Kinkle beats each mini-boss, he goes to visit the 'good guy' in the clouds... and it's always the exact same cut scene which shows. I imagine the text is different, but it would have been nice to get more visual clues as to what the story was about.

DEPTH: 7/10
As mentioned before, I really appreciate the fact that so many facets affect the play of the game. As a player, you're put in a position to actual think things through and chose an approach after watching patterns and taking a look at all objects on the stages. You have to consider how various things on the map might affect the placements of your blocks. The complexity is pretty nice, but there are only 40 levels.

While 40 levels is a pretty decent number, it's not as though new ideas get introduced into the game. The puzzles get progressively more challenging (with the last two levels being ridiculously easy), but there are no new hurdles to consider when coming up with your plan. Thus, while the game has depth, that depth is very limited.

DIFFICULTY: 7/10
If you knew how to solve every puzzle and didn't have to guess and check a whole lot, I imagine a gamer could finish this game in about 90 minutes. I do think the puzzles are a bit more difficult than most puzzle games of the same sort, however. Especially in the later levels, there are so many enemies and sliding ice blocks to avoid, that movement has to be very carefully planned. There are even times when you can't move forward unless you place buttons in front of you as a barrier. And even then, you have to time your button removal and creation just right... so that you won't get caught in turret fire. Hence, the game play ends up being a meticulous study of everything in the stages.

In order to solve the puzzles, you also have to pay attention to the stage map. For example, ice blocks will fall into square holes and solidify into a floor tile, but ice blocks will simply slide over a circular hole. Mallets will always swing blocks into the next cardinal direction going clockwise, but many times a block will slide from hammer to hammer, meaning you must have all the hammers turned the correct ways to start with. Sometimes, pushing blocks into a certain place isn't even enough to access a particular point, and you have to stack multiple blocks against each other... which means studying the baddies' paths and determining when you should freeze and push them. Lots of details like this are what create the challenge of the game, and there are no power-ups other than the female snowball. I love the fact that you must use your brain to play successfully, and I wouldn't change it's level of difficulty even if I as able.

Overall, I really do think this is a great game. It has a few disappointments, but my biggest complain would have to be the music. That's a problem easily solved though, and so it's not a reason to avoid the game. If you like quick puzzlers, this might be a game you'd enjoy checking out.

Vizzed Elite

Singelli

Affected by 'Laziness Syndrome'

Registered: 08-09-12
Location: Alabama
Last Post: 2527 days
Last Active: 2502 days

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