Yoshi's New Island Review
Review Date: March 19, 2014
Yoshi's New Island is, without a doubt, a very controversial title from Nintendo, in the sense that it appears to be slapping the word "New" in the title without actually adding anything new. Even though I have never played this game's predecessors, I can admit that I wasn't overly impressed with the early footage of the game. However, as time went on, bits and pieces of this game started to appeal to me and I soon found myself in Walmart last Friday purchasing it. After playing through the main adventure, I can attest that Yoshi's New Island is a fun game, yet it's very conservative with its otherwise daring new introductions.
STORY
Yoshi's New Island begins exactly where Yoshi's Island left off (I did some research for this part) with the Stork delivering Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to their parents. We then learn that the Stork had accidentally delivered the babies to the wrong house (consider your childhood ruined). In a mad attempt to correct his mistake, the Stork is ambushed by Kamek, Baby Luigi is kidnapped once again and Baby Mario falls to Egg Island, the second home for the Yoshi Clan. We also learn that Baby Bowser has taken over Egg Island with the intention of building a summer home there. The story for Yoshi's New Island is rather lacking, as it doesn't really provide a good reason for why we should even go on this adventure in the first place. There is little to no plot progression as the game wears on, which is rather underwhelming. Even though games in the Mario universe have never been big on the story, they could've put just a little more effort into this storyline.
GAMEPLAY
New Island's gameplay is very simple and smooth. The button layout is simple to learn and memorize. This game allows you to use either the Circle Pad or the D-pad to control Yoshi. I personally prefer using the Circle Pad because using the D-pad really cramps my hand, but there were some instances where Yoshi would unintentionally go through a door or into a pipe because the game registered my movement of the Circle Pad wrong. It got really annoying at points, especially in levels where there are lots of doors. Other than that little mishap, New Island plays smoothly and Yoshi really feels like an extension of your own arm, with his deaths being more or less the fault of the player and not the fault of the game.
New Island also introduces several new gameplay mechanics, with the Eggdozers being the most notable. Eggdozers are essentially giant eggs that come in two forms: Mega Eggdozers (giant-sized eggs obtained from eating a giant Shy Guy) or Metal Eggdozers (metal versions of the Mega Eggdozers, obtained by eating a giant metal Shy Guy). The Mega Eggdozer can be thrown in any direction and wherever it goes creates a path of destruction. While it is being thrown, Yoshi can earn up to three 1-ups depending on how much damage the egg delivers to the environment. The Metal Eggdozers, on the other hand, can only be rolled along the ground. You can also take the Metal Eggdozers underwater, as they will weigh Yoshi down to the sea floor. This adds an interesting twist to the water levels, as Yoshi can generally only float on the surface of the water. Other new gameplay mechanics include the new transformations. These transformations seem more like a distraction than anything else, however, as they require you to play them using the gryo capabilities of the 3DS. The gyro controls feel very tacked on and most of the time I am forced to retry a transformation section simply because the 3DS would not register my movements. I feel that I would've enjoyed the transformations much more if there was a way for me to turn off the gryo controls. This game also introduces "Yoshi Stars," which act similar to the Starman power-up in the Mario platformers. Yellow Yoshi Stars allow Yoshi to gain speed and run up walls and along the ceiling, while Red Yoshi Stars turn Yoshi into an indestructible rocket.
While most of these new gameplay ideas are creative, I feel that they are spaced too far in between. Each of the new additions are confined to their own areas within levels and are maybe used only once per world, which is rather disappointing given that each world has eight levels. To be honest, I think I only found a Yoshi Star three times across the whole game. This does provide a general feel that the new additions are tacked on, as they don't really change the levels or the way the game plays at all. This goes to show that the developers really played the game safe and were very conservative with their new ideas without allowing them to blossom. It feels like such a wasted opportunity.
LEVEL DESIGN
Yoshi's New Island is comprised of six worlds with eight levels per world plus two unlockable levels for each world, bringing a grand total of 60 levels to the table. At first glance, the level design seemed meticulously planned and well-crafted, until I reached World 3. That's when I realized that all of the levels started to blend together. The level design for this game is really bland in the later worlds and some levels simply feel like a rehash of a previous level, simply reskinned with a new color scheme. The levels are not distinguishable from each other and I can barely recall 75 percent of them. By the time I reached World 5, I felt that I had developed the mentality that I was simply finishing this game "just because," rather than to have a great experience playing the game and have that magnificent feeling of success that I felt when I completed Super Mario 3D World. Which brings me to another point, this game is very easy. There is no increase in difficulty at all throughout the entire game and it baffled me that I was able to blow through the first seven levels of World 6 (the last world, mind you) with ease. The real challenge comes from finding all of the red coins, flowers and health stars, but I believe they could've balanced the game's difficulty with finding the collectables better. It really is a shame that the developers didn't spend the time improving the level design, again showing that they were very conservative in allowing their ideas to blossom.
BOSS BATTLES
New Island does have a wide variety of boss battles, with each world having a mid-way battle with Kamek and an end battle with an over-powered common enemy. The boss battles, unfortunately, are quite bland, much like the level design of the game. The Kamek battles do vary between each world and I commend that, but I felt that the developers could've been a bit more creative with the end-world bosses. Much like Paper Mario: Sticker Star, they simply took common enemies, enhanced their power and called it a boss battle. The only boss battle that really intrigued me was the final boss, as it was the only battle that made use of the game's new features. The boss battles lent themselves to adding to the overall feel of conservative-ness that seems to be slapped all over this game.
GRAPHICS
This is certainly a touchy subject with this game, as it introduces an entirely new art style. Many people have written the art style off as being "too different," but I rather enjoy the look. It's very cute and charming and it fits the overall feel of the game quite well. The graphics physically look much better on the actual 3DS screen than they do in the gameplay trailers and the colors really pop in the actual game. I like the art style and I'm glad they chose to go this direction with the graphics. The 3D effect, meanwhile, isn't really anything special in this game. It's simply there to add some distance to the backdrops and it makes the foreground slightly pop out. If you've played New Super Mario Bros. 2 with the 3D effect turned on, you pretty much know what to expect.
MUSIC
The music, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. The new main theme is really cute and catchy and I like it. However, it becomes plainly obvious after three or four levels that the majority of the soundtrack is simply the main theme remixed in different ways. At some points though, that isn't necessarily a bad thing, as some of the remixes are quite good. There are several tracks that are not remixes of the main theme, such as the castle and boss battle themes, but they sound very basic when compared to the remixes. And then there's the kazoo. I have no idea what the composer was thinking when he decided that a kazoo would be a good instrument for the music. The kazoo is very annoying and it really degrades the quality of the music. Fortunately, the kazoo is sparsely used across the duration of the game. Overall, the soundtrack isn't bad, but there is much room for improvement - it shows that the composer, much like the developers, was very conservative in allowing his ideas to fully develop.
VERDICT
In the end, Yoshi's New Island is not a bad game. Despite all of its shortcomings and conservative ways, I still enjoyed the majority of the experience and found it to be a fun game. It does contain a certain degree of charm, found largely in the graphics and occasional good music tracks, but the overall feeling of conservative-ness never fails to butt in and lend an overall feel that Nintendo has played this game safe.
Yoshi's New Island is, without a doubt, a very controversial title from Nintendo, in the sense that it appears to be slapping the word "New" in the title without actually adding anything new. Even though I have never played this game's predecessors, I can admit that I wasn't overly impressed with the early footage of the game. However, as time went on, bits and pieces of this game started to appeal to me and I soon found myself in Walmart last Friday purchasing it. After playing through the main adventure, I can attest that Yoshi's New Island is a fun game, yet it's very conservative with its otherwise daring new introductions.
STORY
Yoshi's New Island begins exactly where Yoshi's Island left off (I did some research for this part) with the Stork delivering Baby Mario and Baby Luigi to their parents. We then learn that the Stork had accidentally delivered the babies to the wrong house (consider your childhood ruined). In a mad attempt to correct his mistake, the Stork is ambushed by Kamek, Baby Luigi is kidnapped once again and Baby Mario falls to Egg Island, the second home for the Yoshi Clan. We also learn that Baby Bowser has taken over Egg Island with the intention of building a summer home there. The story for Yoshi's New Island is rather lacking, as it doesn't really provide a good reason for why we should even go on this adventure in the first place. There is little to no plot progression as the game wears on, which is rather underwhelming. Even though games in the Mario universe have never been big on the story, they could've put just a little more effort into this storyline.
GAMEPLAY
New Island's gameplay is very simple and smooth. The button layout is simple to learn and memorize. This game allows you to use either the Circle Pad or the D-pad to control Yoshi. I personally prefer using the Circle Pad because using the D-pad really cramps my hand, but there were some instances where Yoshi would unintentionally go through a door or into a pipe because the game registered my movement of the Circle Pad wrong. It got really annoying at points, especially in levels where there are lots of doors. Other than that little mishap, New Island plays smoothly and Yoshi really feels like an extension of your own arm, with his deaths being more or less the fault of the player and not the fault of the game.
New Island also introduces several new gameplay mechanics, with the Eggdozers being the most notable. Eggdozers are essentially giant eggs that come in two forms: Mega Eggdozers (giant-sized eggs obtained from eating a giant Shy Guy) or Metal Eggdozers (metal versions of the Mega Eggdozers, obtained by eating a giant metal Shy Guy). The Mega Eggdozer can be thrown in any direction and wherever it goes creates a path of destruction. While it is being thrown, Yoshi can earn up to three 1-ups depending on how much damage the egg delivers to the environment. The Metal Eggdozers, on the other hand, can only be rolled along the ground. You can also take the Metal Eggdozers underwater, as they will weigh Yoshi down to the sea floor. This adds an interesting twist to the water levels, as Yoshi can generally only float on the surface of the water. Other new gameplay mechanics include the new transformations. These transformations seem more like a distraction than anything else, however, as they require you to play them using the gryo capabilities of the 3DS. The gyro controls feel very tacked on and most of the time I am forced to retry a transformation section simply because the 3DS would not register my movements. I feel that I would've enjoyed the transformations much more if there was a way for me to turn off the gryo controls. This game also introduces "Yoshi Stars," which act similar to the Starman power-up in the Mario platformers. Yellow Yoshi Stars allow Yoshi to gain speed and run up walls and along the ceiling, while Red Yoshi Stars turn Yoshi into an indestructible rocket.
While most of these new gameplay ideas are creative, I feel that they are spaced too far in between. Each of the new additions are confined to their own areas within levels and are maybe used only once per world, which is rather disappointing given that each world has eight levels. To be honest, I think I only found a Yoshi Star three times across the whole game. This does provide a general feel that the new additions are tacked on, as they don't really change the levels or the way the game plays at all. This goes to show that the developers really played the game safe and were very conservative with their new ideas without allowing them to blossom. It feels like such a wasted opportunity.
LEVEL DESIGN
Yoshi's New Island is comprised of six worlds with eight levels per world plus two unlockable levels for each world, bringing a grand total of 60 levels to the table. At first glance, the level design seemed meticulously planned and well-crafted, until I reached World 3. That's when I realized that all of the levels started to blend together. The level design for this game is really bland in the later worlds and some levels simply feel like a rehash of a previous level, simply reskinned with a new color scheme. The levels are not distinguishable from each other and I can barely recall 75 percent of them. By the time I reached World 5, I felt that I had developed the mentality that I was simply finishing this game "just because," rather than to have a great experience playing the game and have that magnificent feeling of success that I felt when I completed Super Mario 3D World. Which brings me to another point, this game is very easy. There is no increase in difficulty at all throughout the entire game and it baffled me that I was able to blow through the first seven levels of World 6 (the last world, mind you) with ease. The real challenge comes from finding all of the red coins, flowers and health stars, but I believe they could've balanced the game's difficulty with finding the collectables better. It really is a shame that the developers didn't spend the time improving the level design, again showing that they were very conservative in allowing their ideas to blossom.
BOSS BATTLES
New Island does have a wide variety of boss battles, with each world having a mid-way battle with Kamek and an end battle with an over-powered common enemy. The boss battles, unfortunately, are quite bland, much like the level design of the game. The Kamek battles do vary between each world and I commend that, but I felt that the developers could've been a bit more creative with the end-world bosses. Much like Paper Mario: Sticker Star, they simply took common enemies, enhanced their power and called it a boss battle. The only boss battle that really intrigued me was the final boss, as it was the only battle that made use of the game's new features. The boss battles lent themselves to adding to the overall feel of conservative-ness that seems to be slapped all over this game.
GRAPHICS
This is certainly a touchy subject with this game, as it introduces an entirely new art style. Many people have written the art style off as being "too different," but I rather enjoy the look. It's very cute and charming and it fits the overall feel of the game quite well. The graphics physically look much better on the actual 3DS screen than they do in the gameplay trailers and the colors really pop in the actual game. I like the art style and I'm glad they chose to go this direction with the graphics. The 3D effect, meanwhile, isn't really anything special in this game. It's simply there to add some distance to the backdrops and it makes the foreground slightly pop out. If you've played New Super Mario Bros. 2 with the 3D effect turned on, you pretty much know what to expect.
MUSIC
The music, on the other hand, is an entirely different story. The new main theme is really cute and catchy and I like it. However, it becomes plainly obvious after three or four levels that the majority of the soundtrack is simply the main theme remixed in different ways. At some points though, that isn't necessarily a bad thing, as some of the remixes are quite good. There are several tracks that are not remixes of the main theme, such as the castle and boss battle themes, but they sound very basic when compared to the remixes. And then there's the kazoo. I have no idea what the composer was thinking when he decided that a kazoo would be a good instrument for the music. The kazoo is very annoying and it really degrades the quality of the music. Fortunately, the kazoo is sparsely used across the duration of the game. Overall, the soundtrack isn't bad, but there is much room for improvement - it shows that the composer, much like the developers, was very conservative in allowing his ideas to fully develop.
VERDICT
In the end, Yoshi's New Island is not a bad game. Despite all of its shortcomings and conservative ways, I still enjoyed the majority of the experience and found it to be a fun game. It does contain a certain degree of charm, found largely in the graphics and occasional good music tracks, but the overall feeling of conservative-ness never fails to butt in and lend an overall feel that Nintendo has played this game safe.