Yoshi's Island game review

Test: Yoshi's New Island

Second Nintendo's favorite knife for many players, Yoshi sometimes steals the show from the paunchy who rides him when he has the opportunity. Yoshi's New Island sails directly on the waters of Yoshi's Island with a playful platform game. But 20 years later, is the magic still working?

The return of the well-hung tongue dinosaur was an event expected by many Nintendo 3DS players. Between the nostalgic and those looking for a title that will appeal to all members of the family, the universe of Yoshi has its strengths. However, after a first episode recognized as one of the best platform games, the "series" sometimes went easy with a few pitfalls here and there. No matter, we find with pleasure the Jurassic onomatopoeias and the scenario worthy of a tale for children: the stork supposed to bring the babies Mario and Luigi to their parents is attacked by Kamek who captures the greener of the two. The Yoshi (who, as we recall, are several) will try to find him, while taking Baby Mario on their backs. As it is meugnôôôn.

NEW OUT OF OLD

The structure of the game looks almost identical to that of Yoshi's Island: 6 worlds, 8 levels per world, the stars, coins and flowers to recover, here is an episode that is part of the continuity, and it is not little to say. Yoshi still has its peculiarities that have made its gameplay smarter: its tongue is used to gobble up enemies and transform them into eggs, which it can then launch and bounce on the walls to kill other enemies, or reach bonuses otherwise unreachable. We also find the famous rodeo attack (or charge) which consists of violently landing on the ground to do damage or to push posts into the ground. Finally, there remains Yoshi's ability to stay suspended in the air for a short time (pedaling like a madman), practical for catching up on a platform in extremis. In short, maneuverability rather easy to access, greatly helped by the very slow pace of play compared to Yoshi's Island. If we gain in accessibility, we also lose in nervousness, a criticism that may return in this article (you are warned).

THE CONCEPT, WITHOUT ENGINEERING

One of the prerogatives of large platform games is to manage to vary the pleasure in order to always offer new sensations to the player. If the first Yoshi's Island was a good example, this 3DS opus tries somehow to surf the same wave. Thus, we find the principle of transformations, like the helicopter or the ski, with a small particularity: these phases are playable via the gyroscopic functions of the console. Lack of luck here, we have the impression that it was just an opportunity to cram a 3DS functionality that a real idea of gameplay. Not only does it bring nothing to the sequences of transformations, but moreover certain phases are found unplayable or complicated to handle, like the submarine for example. And we come to the most damaging point of this Yoshi's New Island: it totally lacks gameplay ideas. While trying to take over phases, enigmas and sequences of Yoshi's Island, this section manages to remove all the marrow to be a rather arbitrary game of platforms. We cross most of the levels without much conviction and it is not easy to remember significant passages. Basically, the concept, without the genius. A rather overwhelming observation which does not take away from the title its general bonhomie, but which marks the chasm which separates the very good games from the more erased titles.

IN DEPTH

However, some novelties are emerging, such as giant eggs (normal and metallic) which destroy everything in their path, or even stars which allow running on the walls or even flying. Unfortunately, these phases are both short and rare, not allowing this Yoshi's New Island to mark its identity. To tell the truth, only a few levels, even a few fights against bosses, stand out enough to make an impression. This obviously has repercussions. You may be less inclined to poke around every corner to find out what the game is all about, tracing to the finish line to finish the game as quickly as possible. Not only will you severely truncate the lifespan by doing this, but you will miss the exploration aspect of the title. Because yes, as for the previous ones, the search for the secrets, necessary to unlock a dozen additional levels, encourages you to delve into the decor. If this increases the lifespan rather considerably, we can still regret that some hiding places have absolutely no logic, letting the player wander for hours in a level without ever finding this damn missing flower. When the appearance of certain secrets is activated by walking on a corner of a completely harmless platform, with no switch or even sneaky indication, it is pure chance that brings about discovery. So you end up jumping all over the place and running all over the place just to be sure, which doesn't really represent the ultimate gameplay element.

YOSHI GETTING UNDER

If once again the observation may seem scathing, understand that Yoshi's New Island is not a bad game. All these elements just take it away from the promises of the series, and remind us that this episode does not manage to find the brilliant from the original album. The same goes for the visual aspect, which although finer does not reach the artistic prowess of the 1995 opus, which he nevertheless tries in vain to approach on all other points. Regarding the soundtrack, in addition to the characteristic sounds emitted by Yoshi, there are no particular shards to report. Note however the presence of 6 mini-games playable with two players (unlockable by finishing each of the worlds), in which you have to pop balloons as quickly as possible or even catch coins in the air while hovering. We are very far from a complete multiplayer experience and closer to the small addition of completion on which you will probably not spend more than an hour.

Good points
Great accessibility
Classic, but rather effective
The Yoshi universe
Some attempts to vary gameplay phases
The hidden passages

Negative points
A blatant lack of ideas
Identity deficit
Hidden secrets
Misuse of gyroscopy (transformations)
Artistically below expectations

The universe without genius, this is how we could sum up this Yoshi's New Island. Although it is always a pleasure to find the dinosaur master of the orchestra, this opus lacks far too many ideas to reach the rank of the first opus. But if this step was undoubtedly too high for the 3DS opus, it remains a pleasant title to cross for not too demanding players, and for the youngest who will discover accessible gameplay. Probably not the Yoshi we dreamed of, but an honest episode.