Yoshi's New Island Review
No mystery remains unsolved when Yoshi’s nearby. Mario’s dinosaur companion leaps into the heart of labyrinthine locales, ferreting out the many secrets that pepper these colorful lands. Skillful challenges are kept to a minimum in Yoshi’s New Island. Rather than performing dexterous feats of skill, you instead take a methodical tour of each delightful land. It’s an approach that separates Yoshi’s New Island from many platformers out there, but sadly there are missteps in the execution that lessen any excitement. Straightforward level design demands neither clever puzzle solving nor quick reflexes, and a dearth of new ideas makes the many obstacles and enemies feel predictable. Yoshi’s New Island is at once pleasant and forgettable, proving that charming aesthetics can only gloss over middling design for so long.
Before he became a plumber and brought momentary peace to the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario was nothing more than a baby in distress on the back of a dinosaur. Yoshi proves here that he’s every bit the hero that the diapered companion he carries with him is; just don’t expect him to move like Mario does. Dinosaurs are heavy creatures, so Yoshi isn’t quick on his feet, b…
Continue Reading