To Buy? Or Not to Buy? That is the question.
Hey guys! It’s Chris here with another game review. Today’s game is a sequel to the 2006 game, “Yoshi’s Island”. “Yoshi’s New Island” was released March 14th, 2014 and can be bought for the 3Ds in stores or on the Nintendo Eshop for $40.
Jumping right into things, “Yoshi’s New Island” doesn’t feel any different from its previous game minus a few new game mechanics. Yoshi can now eat larger enemies, which become giant “eggdozers” that rampage through parts of the map and get you coins and extra lives. This can be dangerous, however, during underwater missions. Swallowing metal enemies will give you a metal eggdozer, causing you to sink.
Yoshi has also acquired the ability to turn into strange new objects such as submarines, jackhammers, hot air balloons, and more. In these segments of the game, you must tilt your 3Ds in the direction you wish to go while pressing buttons to attack and move on in the level. Yoshi also has a star power now as well. While it’s not as good as Mario’s, it allows Yoshi to run at faster speeds, letting him run up walls and jump incredibly far. Another special item Yoshi can now use is a pair of wings, which allow Yoshi to fly until you choose to continue on foot.
Now that the new mechanics have been gone over, let’s get into how the game plays. Honestly, the game delivers. “Yoshi’s New Island” is a game that plays well and stays true to its roots in terms of gameplay. Each level you play as one of eight Yoshis carrying baby Mario through different areas of the island. For those who haven’t played the game before, when you are hit Mario comes off of your back and if you run out of star points, you will get game over when that timer hits zero.
Levels start out simply with few enemies and not many complex or hidden items, making the beginning areas fairly easy. Each level has 20 red coins, five flowers, and requires you to save up 30 seconds of star points to fully master a level. You are free to complete the level in any fashion that you see fit, your main goal is just to get to the end of the level. Each area adds different enemies, traps, and obstacles as you continue through the game. There is a boss every four levels, all are fairly simple in figuring out how to defeat them, all you have to do is find their weak point and hit them three times. The game goes on like this until you beat the 6th and final world, saving baby Luigi, and ending the game.
Not only did the gameplay stay true to the series, but the visuals did as well. “Yoshi’s Island” has a unique art style that is a beautiful world in itself. Everything that isn’t a character in some way in the game is drawn in a way that resembles an oil painting. Each world, with its bright colors and simple designs, captivates the player, welcoming whoever plays the game. It’s comforting to know that the art style stays true to the series.
Each game, no matter how it looks and feels, has it’s pros and cons. Here are some that stuck out to me as I played the game.
Pros:
- Stays true to the series
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Fun to play from start to finish
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Good level mechanics that keep the game interesting
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Beautiful level designs
Cons:
- Doesn’t feel like an improvement from the previous game
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Glitchy motion controls
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The game is way too short
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Any new mechanics added in the game feel unnecessary
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Most of the music in the game sounds the same
Sadly, “Yoshi’s New Island” doesn’t feel too new. Playing through the game feels comforting in the sense of that they feel like the older games. However, the new mechanics feel forced and unnecessary, as if they were just thrown in because Nintendo needed something “new” to add to the game. Becoming a hot air balloon or a jackhammer is cool, but the motion controls are so unresponsive that making certain parts of the game that require you to do this is a little agitating. Yes, it feels like the previous games but it doesn’t feel new or necessary. The game is priced at $40 and in my opinion, it’s worth $10 or less, and I wouldn’t recommend buying this game unless you are a huge fan of Yoshi. What I would recommend is spending your money on a “Mario” game instead.
Thanks for reading my review on “Yoshi’s New Island”! If you have an opinion about my review, please be sure to leave a comment below. Thanks again and have a good rest of your day/night.
