Yoku’s Island Express

Genre: Metroidvania / Pinball

Players: 1

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Review:

Yoku’s Island Express is a Metroidvania Pinball game, an odd and seemingly unlikely pairing, yet this ends up being one of those “peanut butter and chocolate” sort of situations where the game’s different elements each bring something new and refreshing to the table that’s unlike anything else out there.

Players take on the role of an cartoony dung beetle (no, really) lugging around a massive (for him, anyway), round stone and arriving at an island full of cartoony creatures to replace the island’s retiring postman. The island has had some trouble lately, with its massive, magical protector having come under attack by mysterious forces, and plenty of characters have messages they need delivered around the island, or need help with some sort of problem they’re dealing with.

The presentation here is wonderful – the characters are beautifully-designed, hand-painted, expressive, and have adorable animations, and the mellow but bouncy music fits well with the island theme and gives everything a really joyous feel. This is complimented by the sound effects, which do a great job of adapting traditional pinball sounds to fit the more cartoony island setting.

The island is pretty big, and on his own all your character can do is move left, right, or tap a button to blow a party pipe (soooo cute!) to interact with the environment. Much of the gameplay comes from your ability to interact with any part of the environment shaded blue or yellow by tapping the L and R buttons, with these elements usually shifting the ball (and your character) around or batting it like a pinball.

This makes the simple task of getting around on the island fun in and of itself, as going from place to place is a lot like playing on different pinball boards, and even those areas not quite set up in that way play out like a precise set of bounces that propel you to where you’re going, almost like a Rube Goldberg machine.

Unlike in pinball though, getting a “gutter ball” doesn’t make for a “game over”. As far as I can tell, there’s no lives or dying in this game. Rather, your character collects fruit that are used as currency, and any time you pass through thorny bushes (usually in a “gutter ball” area, you’re penalized by losing a few of them. This along with the bright and cheery presentation helps to keep this a light-hearted and fun experience, and keep things moving.

If I had one complaint to make about this game, it’s that the island is so big, and the parts of it are so complex, that at times it’s hard to get your bearings. You can always refer back to a map of the areas uncovered, and usually if you head in a general direction you’ll end up where you intend to go, but while overall areas are distinct and different, different sections within those areas can look a little samey and be difficult to distinguish in your memory.

However, this hardly slows down the flow of the game or gives you too much difficulty, and in the end there’s so much here that’s simply wonderful. The entire time I was playing Yoku’s Island Express, I couldn’t help but have a smile on my face, and all of its elements mesh together beautifully to create a unique, captivating experience that really makes this a unique, amazing experience that should be welcome on anyone’s Switch.

tl;dr – Yoku’s Island Express is a Metroidvania Pinball game that puts you in the role of a cartoony dung beetle lugging around a big round rock as he delivers mail across a huge and complex island set up like a gigantic pinball machine. It’s an odd combination of elements that works amazingly well, heightened by a beautiful presentation and an overall joyful experience throughout. Definitely give this game a look.

Grade: A

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