Yoshi’s Crafted World

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Yoshi’s Crafted World is a family-friendly Platformer, the latest in the Yoshi series that has been trying for decades to repeat the success of 1995’s incredible Yoshi’s Island without success. This game also follows in the footsteps of the previous series entry on the Wii U and 3DS, Yoshi’s Woolly World, which reimagined the series’ gameplay in a world made of yarn. This time around, the world within the game is made from various crafting components, with characters and a world made from cardboard, paper, fabric, and everyday objects like milk cartons, paper plates, pipe cleaners, and single-use creamer cups.

This presentation is both extremely impressive and extremely unimpressive at the same time. On the one hand, this design makes the entire game look shabby, simple, and flimsy, while objects that are supposed to be heavy don’t look heavy at all, and impassable walls literally made out of paper being kinda’ inexplicable… but at the same time, the game’s world truly does look like it’s made out of these common household items and pieced together like a school project diorama or a child’s playtime creation, and the imagination at work in doing so is really incredible, with different materials visibly taped together, trap doors cut into floors to allow passage, and everything looking very much like something you could build yourself if you felt so inclined. What’s more, this effect is enhanced by occasional parts in the game animated to look as if they were done using stop-motion animation, and although this look is a bit jarring, it’s so delightfully distinct that I kinda’ wish the entire game was done this way.

The soundtrack is similarly a mix of delightful and appalling. There are some memorable tunes here, but they’re being played on some grating and low-fidelity instruments like a child’s xylophone. A part of me really liked this game’s soundtrack and thought it was perfectly suited to the game, but another part of me found it almost painful to listen to.

As for the gameplay itself, the “arts and crafts” nature of the world in this game lends it to some really creative level design that had me smiling throughout the game. Just seeing how the game’s designers used the concept of a world made from scraps of cardboard, a world that is apparently small enough to fit on a desktop or in a child’s sandbox… it felt like every level in the game had some new surprise or delightful twist. What’s more, the game mixes things up pretty frequently with different types of levels – in one you may be controlling a “giant” “robot”, and in another you’ll be moving Yoshi to shift the weight of an airplane. It’s all pretty well-done, and this variety only adds to the “what will they do next?” appeal of the game.

The pacing in this game is slower than the series usually is, encouraging players to take their time and be observant of their surroundings, while giving players he ability to use Yoshi’s signature egg toss to now target the background and foreground. It’s a nice touch that makes for some interesting “ah-ha!” moments.

With the very kid-friendly themes of the game comes some kid-friendly challenge levels too. There are still challenges here for more advanced players, who will have a lot of work ahead of them to get a perfect score in every level, but players just looking to complete the game’s levels will find the game to be largely a breeze. On top of this, there’s an additional easy mode that should make even the worst Platformer players have an easy time with this game.

In addition, there’s a surprisingly good co-op mode here, where players can work together separately, or join forces with one moving around and the other taking care of aiming. This flexibility in the co-op is really nice, and there are even opportunities to mess with each other, but I do wish that the game didn’t make it so easy to accidentally interact with the other player when you didn’t intend to.

While I would say that Yoshi’s Crafted World doesn’t top Yoshi’s Island, it tries for something somewhat unique and different, and this makes for a wildly original game in its own right, with plenty of variety and loads of charm. The game’s lower difficulty may disappoint some, but it’s sure to please others, and the graphics and music are both kinda’ terrible, but in a way that’s really well-done and lends the game loads of personality. There’s definitely room for improvement here, but overall this is an incredibly good game, and the best game in the series since the original.

tl;dr – Yoshi’s Crafted World is a family-friendly Platformer that takes the series’ gameplay into a world made of cardboard and other crafting materials, making the entire game look like you’re playing through a child’s diorama. The game really explores this idea well, using it for all sorts of interesting surprises and twists on the gameplay, with some good co-op play and a low challenge level making it ideal for youngsters while still giving more seasoned players challenges to pursue. It’s not perfect, but even so it’s the best game in the Yoshi series since Yoshi’s Island, and a must-have for fans of Platformers.

Grade: A

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