Yoshi’s had quite the spotty history of starring in his own games.
While Yoshi’s Island is undeniably brilliant, nothing after that has come close to matching
its magic.
That is until Yoshi’s Woolly World, which I fell in love with on the Wii U.
It felt like a proper expansion upon Good-Feel’s ideas in Kirby’s Epic Yarn and was simply
a better fit with the mechanics of Yoshi.
So when I learned that Good-Feel was handling the next Yoshi game, Yoshi’s Crafted World,
I was legitimately excited.
But is that excitement merited?
Or is this simply another misstep?
Yoshi’s Crafted World follows the simple stories of the past games.
The Yoshis are dancing around a wondrous object known as the Sundream Stone that can make
anyone’s wildest wish come true.
So it isn’t long before Baby Bowser and Kamek arrive to take it for themselves, and
in the ensuing struggle, the five Dreams Gems that grant the Sundream Stone its power are
spread around a new set of islands along with the Yoshis and Bowser.
Now it’s a race to see who can gather all the gems first.
The setup mainly serves as an excuse to explore the world and face off against Bowser’s
Minions though there are some slightly humorous scenes before each boss.
But the meat of the game is the classic Yoshi platforming action though Crafted World introduces
a few twists to keep things fresh.
While Yoshi can still flutter jump, run, and eat enemies to make eggs, the eggs he throws
no longer rely on a constantly moving reticle.
Instead, it’s fully controllable by the player and can be aimed into either the background
or foreground, provided there’s an interactable object there to highlight.
Although the gameplay sticks to a 2D plane, it does allow enemies and goodies to hide
where you might not see them right away.
Likewise, Yoshi’s path will sometimes split allowing him to move closer or farther away
from the main plane.
This doesn’t happen that often though and most of Crafted World can be viewed as a 2D
game.
What truly sets Crafted World apart though is its aesthetic.
Every level looks as though it were made by some truly creative kids using construction
paper, old containers, sheets, and more.
It’s a dazzling effect that never got old.
I was always excited to see what would come next.
And that’s because not only are the levels beautifully constructed, there’s always
something new to do as well.
There might be a standard Yoshi level, but then it adds a triceratops skull that you
can use to destroy everything in your path.
Or have a giant skeleton chase you down.
Or control an airplane to dodge bomb-wielding Shy Guys.
Or even have to hunt down a certain number of Monty Moles or take part in a safari where
you throw eggs at targets while on a train.
There’s always something new to do or enemy to fight, and that creativity is the best
part of Yoshi’s Crafted World.
Not only that, but after completing a level, you can replay it in reverse as you hunt down
three Poochy Pups.
They’re never that difficult to find, even within the time limit for a small bonus, but
seeing how each level was constructed behind the scenes really adds to the atmosphere.
I had a better sense of how things moved, what they were made of, and other fun tricks
that showed the thought process behind it.
And this view could even provide hints if you missed certain collectibles your first
time through.
It provides a solid reason to replay the 43 main levels a second time.
But this also ties directly into the major problem of Crafted World.
One of the biggest gameplay changes is the new importance of the Smiley Flowers.
While past Yoshi games would feature five of these to collect in every level, Crafted
World often hides even more than that.
And in addition the other objectives, like finding 20 hidden red coins or finishing the
stage with full health, only reward the player with more Flowers.
And this is a bit important as there are now characters that block the way to the next
set of levels if you don’t have enough.
The required amount is never that much, but it does help encourage players to actually
explore each level rather blast through them with little thought, a problem that past Yoshi
games have dealt with.
It feels like a solid change at first.
After all, this ties into the structure of the level progression itself.
There are no traditional worlds in the game.
Once the first boss is defeated, your path opens up in a major way and you can tackle
sets of areas in any order you see fit.
It’s not completely open, but the structure allows for a gradual increase in difficulty.
As I said before, this all feels like a good change.
Except when it comes to the Souvenirs.
The characters blocking your way will offer up challenges tasking you to find a certain
Souvenir in a level you already completed in exchange for a Flower.
Now this doesn’t seem so bad when you begin.
It’s likely you missed some of the collectables the first time through and you can leave the
level immediately once the Souvenir is found.
The major problem is the sheer amount of Souvenirs to collect and they can only be done one at
a time.
So if you want to find everything in the game, you’ll easily end up playing every level
at least 5 times.
The initial playthrough, the Flip Side search for Poochy Pups, and at least three Souvenirs.
It is an agonizing process and only serves to destroy the wonder that these levels have.
I’d be blown away by the first playthrough and the Flip Side but hate a level by the
time I finished collecting Souvenirs.
It is an utterly mind-numbing process.
Fortunately, collecting these Souvenirs is not necessary.
Completing every objective in a world no longer unlocks a bonus stage since there aren’t
really traditional worlds.
Instead, they’re eventually accessed through the Flowers you collect.
After I while, I stopped bothering with the Souvenirs completely, and I still had more
than enough Flowers to play these extra levels.
This is a game that is absolutely not worth completing as the rewards are laughable.
Play normally through each stage and the Flip Side.
That’s it.
Finally, there’s now a use for the coins that Yoshi collects as they can be used at
prize machines in order to obtain a huge variety of silly costumes.
But these aren’t simply cosmetic, they actually act as armor.
And the rarer the costume, the more hits it can take.
It’s a good way to fulfill the full health objective in a level if your having trouble.
However, this also means that the game is made that much easier.
I wanted to use the costumes because of the fun designs, but Crafted World is already
a pretty easy game, even by Yoshi standards.
So I ended up not using costumes for most of my playtime.
Although Crafted World is not a hard game, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have some
challenge.
Most stages have timer clouds that offer small tasks in exchange for another Flower.
This includes collecting enough blue coins in time, eating a certain amount of fruit,
or even flipping the perspective entirely to throw eggs at targets in the now background.
It further emphasizes how creative the levels can be when you’re not forced to replay
them over and over again.
And while the visuals of Yoshi’s Crafted World are wonderful in their design, the same
can’t be said of the music.
It’s just bad.
While it tries to use the same theme in different ways to give a sense of cohesion, the instrumentation
is baby-ish and comes across more grating than anything else.
And the moments where it isn’t, it’s merely forgettable.
Unfortunately it lacks the grandeur of Woolly World’s soundtrack.
There’s plenty of charm to be found in Yoshi’s Crafted World.
The levels are so well constructed and clever, making them the highlight of the entire game.
But everything else feels either lacking, frustrating, or repetitious.
This is a game that I fully recommend playing normally as the rewards for completion are
pretty abysmal and time consuming.
I beat the main game in around 8 or 9 hours.
It took me another 20 to collect nearly everything.
I like the game and some of the ideas it presents, but it doesn’t reach the heights of Woolly
World.
Thanks for watching and be sure to subscribe to GameXplain for more on Yoshi and other
things gaming.