Yoshi is no stranger to having games of his own. Best known for his role as Mario’s dependable sidekick, Yoshi has become popular enough to star in games with his name. While Yoshi’s Island was the game that made him a breakout star, the games that came after it (for the most part) did not quite replicate the magic of the original. Still, Yoshi’s Woolly World brought the dinosaur back with a fresh coat of paint (and by paint, I mean wool). Which brings us to its successor: Yoshi’s Crafted World.
Upon playing through Yoshi’s Crafted World, it’s easy to tell that this game is to Yoshi’s Story as Yoshi’s Woolly World is to Yoshi’s Island. Study its gameplay and you will find that inspiration from the N64 title.
The story this time is that the Yoshi Clan are guarding an artifact called the Sundream Stone, which contains gems. After Baby Bowser and Kamek try to steal the stone, the gems become scattered across the crafted landscape. The Yoshi Clan decide to go search for the gems before Baby Bowser and Kamek get to them first. The story is standard Nintendo fare, and it does its job of putting the players down the road that the game has laid out for them.
Throughout the game, you will come to expect the levels are all dioramas of sorts, with each containing arts and crafts aesthetics. Some levels take advantage of this by branching the paths into 3D environments, letting you explore levels unlike anything seen before in the Yoshi series.
If you have played any Yoshi game before, you know the drill by now: Yoshi can eat enemies to make eggs, and he throws these eggs at stronger enemies. It is the same deal that has made him famous, though this time Yoshi can throw eggs into the foreground and background. The game strongly emphasizes this by putting collectables in out of reach areas, and you will need to throw eggs in both the foreground and background to obtain. Yoshi still retains his abilities to flutter jump and ground pound as before.
Simply beating a level is the bare minimum for a Yoshi game, but for those completionists out there, you need to collect all of the red coins and flowers, and you need to reach the end with full health. The game also throws additional challenges too, such as going through the levels in reverse to find little poochies under a time limit. Point is, every level has a checklist of things to do besides getting to the goal, so there is a lot that players can busy themselves with.
While having variety is nice, side objectives can also drag the experience down a bit. I want to point out that the game encourages careful exploration to find all of the goodies, which means looking at the levels from all angles. However, the levels themselves can feel lengthy, and when you consider having to replay levels to fully complete it, the experience becomes bogged down by tediousness.
In other news, the music in this game is a noticeable step backwards from the music of Yoshi’s Woolly World. While the music of that game was varied and pleasant to the ears, the music of Yoshi’s Crafted World follows the tradition of nearly every song being a variation of the main theme. Music has been overall a weak element of the Yoshi series, so it’s no surprise that the music here isn’t as good as the music from Yoshi’s Woolly World or Yoshi’s Island.
The game also supports co-op mode, so grab a buddy and work together on getting through the levels. The best part? You can select whichever color Yoshi you want to play from the menu, as you do not always have to be the green one all the time.
Yoshi’s Crafted World is a decent platformer that is fun to go through, despite its minor hiccups. How players can approach this game depends on either desiring to reach the end of it or collecting everything to completion. The game won’t raise the bar, but it will remind you that it is a harmless artsy platformer starring everyone’s favorite rideable green dinosaur.
