After warming the hearts of all cross stitch lovers with Yoshi's Woolly World on Wii U (later also on 3DS), Nintendo's cuddly dinosaur returns, always in a clothed guise, to Switch with a new adventure reminiscent of after school afternoons; filled with paper, crayons, vinyl glue and rounded-tip scissors.
Yoshi's Crafted World is the perfect example of how Nintendo sees things in the opposite way to the rest of the world. Everyone is scrambling to produce violent, zombie-filled games with mature and super-difficult storylines? They bring out a new Yoshi: a game with a green dinosaur made of cloth and filled with wool that smells of strawberry. And it is for this reason that Yoshi has managed to break through and warm even the darkest hearts. Also this time.
Hug To The Hills
The incipit is one of the most classic: Bowser Junior and the sorcerer Kamek want to steal an ancient artifact called "the Sun of Desires", located on the top of the Yoshi hill. The daring theft, however, breaks the glittering artifact, dispersing the gems, previously set in it, throughout the world.
A quick Yoshiosa assembly makes us decide with which color of Yoshi we want to start the adventure and how many Yoshi will have to leave. By choosing two Yoshis, you can immediately start in multiplayer mode. Both options can be modified at will, both to change color and to tackle any level with a partner.
With just three keys you can get Yoshi to perform his entire repertoire of moves. Once you have the pad in your hand, it will be impossible not to be comfortable with the controls. With the B key you stretch your tongue to swallow the enemies and turn them into an egg, with X you throw the aforementioned eggs and with A you jump. You won't need anything else to get lost in the wonderful school exhibit jobs that are the levels. To further simplify the gameplay, the mechanics of pushing the analog stick down to enclose the unfortunate enemy just engulfed in an egg has also been removed. So the passage from point to point of the level and reaching the finish line becomes a very pleasant walk in the name of discovery, jumping and throwing the egg.
So how to make this walk through paper, cans and decorated bottles pleasant and not too repetitive? Simple, making level design evolve world after world and finding a little trick that, in fact, doubles the life of each scenario faced.
Raimbow in the Park
The objectives of the levels are the classic ones of any Yoshi-centric game: get to the end of the level and collect as many flowers as possible. Each level has a specific number of them. There are the canonical ones to find by looking in every corner of the stage and activating the various timed mini-games and those as a bonus of completion condition, that is to complete the level with the maximum life, collecting all the red coins and a certain number of classic coins . If basic simplicity is a clear feature of the game, wanting to complete each level 100% will give you a few more headaches. Nothing exceptionally difficult, mind you.
There are however two characteristics that contribute to replaying each scenario.
The first, the most particular one, is precisely the possibility of retracing the entire stage in reverse looking for the three Poochi (the very tender dogs) hidden in it. This feature actually offers an inverted view, so you will be looking at the opposite side of the diorama-level just finished. This reverse of shot reveals all the secrets of making the diorama, seeing pieces of scotch tape stuck to the clouds, non-colored paper tubes, cereal boxes covered only on one side by papier-mâché and all the features hidden from view by tons of glue. vinyl. It won't impact gameplay, but it's really a very nice treat.
The other feature is also aimed at making each level go through several times. The Bricolo family, in fact the keepers of each portion of the world, will give additional tasks for each level faced, such as finding a certain number of sheep, fish, flowers and so on. Completing these missions will grant us extra flowers.
The addition of these two modes allows Yoshi's Crafted World to comfortably reach twelve hours of gameplay to complete.
Runnin’ With the Dino’s
Playing with a friend is certainly one of the best ways to enjoy the experience. That little bit of chaos makes the already super relaxing atmosphere even more pleasant and easy-going.
Other things to do between levels include collecting armor for Yoshi. In particular candy dispensers (one different for each world) it will in fact be possible to spend the coins collected by playing to win, randomly, the different types of clothes designed for the occasion. From caps to matchboxes, each armor has a different level of rarity, which coincides with greater resistance to shocks. Exactly, using these upgrades will give Yoshi more protection, further resetting the challenge level. Very pleasant to see, but not recommended to use.
I played Yoshi's Crafted World on Nintendo Switch alternating equally between portable and TV modes, not forgetting some tasty multiplayer games.
Duration- Playing it in a sprint takes a handful of hours, to complete it 100% you get comfortable at around thirty hours.
- It starts from point A and arrives at point B by playing, jumping and swallowing enemies.
- You can also start from point B to get to point A, playing the level upside down to find the hidden Poochi.
- There are a number of costumes to unlock with the in-game coin and Amiibo.
- Finishing it all may or may not lead to discovering new things (... it may!).
Master of Puppy
As the level design grows exponentially from world to world, it is also true that the technical realization is not the most brilliant seen on the Switch. It will be the inexperience of the Nintendo teams with the Unreal Engine, used for the first time for this Yoshi, but we could have expected more. At least in terms of general cleanliness. And it is a great pity, because a better technical realization would have brought to the right exaltation the wonder hidden in each scenario. Cans, labels, pieces of cardboard, different materials that coexist together and give life to a world as pleasant as it is brilliant. Of course, it is not the first time that paper has been used to create levels in a video game, just think of any Paper Mario or an even more specific Tearaway, but the idea of the diorama and the tons of digital cardboard used to give life to this Yoshi are still applause.
Same goes for the sound. As much as the classic style and themes of the saga are recovered, the new arrangements fail to break through and be hummed day and night as they did in other games dedicated to Nintendo's chestnut green. They perfectly accompany the adventure, but in this they exhaust their purpose without particular appeal. And if you hate sweet and repeated themes, well. It could be a problem.
Children in the Brave
How to feel leaving Lemon tree by Fools Garden while listening to a playlist of Death Metal, Yoshi's Crafted World bursts into a market currently dominated by violence and particularly challenging and difficult games. Almost like making us breathe a sigh of relief. To make us understand that life is not just black tank tops, guitar distortions and bats eaten on a stage, but also tenderness, love and rounded-tip scissors.
The main reason to play with Yoshi's Crafted World is to "carve out" a moment of relaxation after a day of work or school. To be enjoyed with your child, with your wife or simply to spend some time with a smile on your face, without making a special effort.
Even better is to take advantage of Yoshi's tenderness as a relaxing break between one challenging game and another, between one death in Sekiro and another!
Graphics
Beautiful idea and level design, less pleasant the final result. It fails in general cleanliness and suffers a little too much from wild jaggedness.
75
SOUNDTRACK AND DOUBLE ROOM
The verses of Yoshi always warm the heart and the music accompany the whole adventure very well, but they do not manage to get into the head like other themes dedicated to the dinosaur.
80
GAMEPLAY
Although simplicity is sometimes extreme, it is impossible to say that there is something that is not always in the right place. Every jump and every little environmental puzzle are transmitted to the player with splendid naturalness.
