REVIEW | Yoshi's Crafted World
Written by Michael Richardson
Published 21 June 2019
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All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Opinions expressed in this review are of the reviewer alone.
Game Copyright 2019 Nintendo Co., Ltd.
NS Exclusive
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Two Sides to Every Situation
Experimentation is vital to a company’s survival, as consumers become increasingly angered over a lack of innovation. The tech industry has recently been ridiculed over beliefs that it has stagnated after Steve Jobs’ untimely death, with his company Apple being at the center of controversy due to product dissatisfaction. The gaming industry is little exception, with giants such as Activision and Electronic Arts being stomped on by consumers for their abuse of microtransactions and developer-weary annual release practices.
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After many similar games, I was excited to see Nintendo’s famous Yoshi series, which stars Mario’s lovable sidekick dinosaur, attempt something other than a typical two-dimensional platformer in Yoshi’s Crafted World. Upon spending twenty hours journeying through the cardboard diorama landscape, Crafted World left me with a paper cut as I grew increasingly dissatisfied over its lack of innovation and extensive repetition, resulting in a largely unmemorable experience.
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Spike-Flavored Lollipops
While most Nintendo platformers follow a predictable plot, Yoshi’s Crafted World takes it to an extreme by recycling the same narrative of past games with minimal excitement throughout. To elaborate, here is a breakdown of the plot:
…
The end.
I mean, the story might as well be summarized as such. The Yoshi clan are living peacefully on their island when Baby Bowser and Kamek attempt to kidnap the Sundream Stone, a wish-granting entity that the Yoshi's protect. Following a tug of war, the five pieces of the Sundream Stone are scattered and it's up to the Yoshi's to collect them all and spank Baby Bowser. I walked away disappointed from Crafted’s story not because it was lacking in depth; I simply grew irritated hearing the same thing I had heard in previous Yoshi titles such as 2015’s Yoshi’s Woolly World. The series desperately needs a new scenario to entice players, and the lack of originality in Crafted’s narrative grew tiresome with a combination of predictable plot twists and uninspired dialogue. And I have to ask, when will developers abandon the uninteresting trope of wish-granting devices? Kirby and Mario are examples that immediately come to mind, and their respective Star Rod and Star Spirits have far outstayed their welcome, and it is time Yoshi learned his lesson.
Following the structure from past iterations, Yoshi can run, jump, and engulf enemies to reach the goal at the end of each level, but he now possesses the ability to throw eggs into the background and foreground of each level. However, as Crafted World’s signature new mechanic, it fails to deliver and only proves useful in a handful of stages, instead mostly serving as a catalyst for the tedious side quests. To elaborate, at the end of each level a character will ask Yoshi to throw eggs at a type of craft found in certain levels, thereby turning them into souvenirs such as cardboard Cows or smiling Pyramids. While these quests highlight the intricate detail present in each world, they are far too dull and overused to be of any substance, and the amount of time they take to complete is inconvenient. To put in perspective, some worlds consisting of three levels have nine of these hunts, easily doubling playtime by scouring for a minor detail. The repetition does not stop there; assuming all collectibles are gained on a first level playthrough, stages must be entered a minimum of four times: once for completion, at least twice for souvenir hunts, and once for the similarly dull poochy pup hunts. Even worse, the souvenir hunts only reward one flower of the hundreds in the game, making them feel even more inconsequential. This would be more acceptable had Crafted World been longer, but as it stands the campaign can be easily strolled through in roughly six hours, making the souvenir hunts feel like an excuse for longer play time. Given that a hugely fun aspect of past Yoshi installments was completing each level, Crafted World comes across as a disappointment by relying on boring ways to vastly increase playtime, robbing the series of its rich collectathon identity as a result.
To add to the frustration, Crafted World’s collectable costumes make the game obnoxiously easy. Coins gathered in levels can be used to purchase unique and humorous clothing for Yoshi to wear, ranging from a car to a fire-breathing dragon, but they always increase Yoshi’s health. While I understand that increased stamina adds a sense of reward that will help less experienced players, having upwards of five expendable hit points makes an already easy game even more of a cakewalk. With no option to turn this feature off, I felt a diminished incentive to complete levels since they felt mundane without challenge. And even if players are struggling with platforming segments, they can always opt to play in Mellow Mode, which grants Yoshi wings to bypass most obstacles and immunity to fall damage. Furthermore, I am baffled as to why costumes reward additional hit points, since they feel like a useless feature given the inclusion of an easy mode.
By this point I have largely come across as a Crafted World hater, but I still greatly enjoyed the base gameplay. The boss battles are a highlight by successfully incorporating Yoshi’s myriad mechanics in creative and challenging ways, and I thoroughly enjoyed completing them all. Most of the landscapes Yoshi finds himself in are fun on initial playthroughs, such as pastry-filled streets, a literal jurassic park, and a street race. Whoasi! With a unique pacing structure that ensures concepts do not get stale by limiting each world to an average of three levels, I was often on my feet looking forward to the next interesting gimmick. I also had fun experimenting with Crafted World’s multiplayer component, which is as fun and chaotic as it is in the New Super Mario Bros. series, and given the portable nature of the Switch it was never a chore adding another person through the quick pass of a Joy-Con controller. Moreover, Yoshi’s latest installment displays a contagious amount of creativity in its stages, but is significantly smeared by massive collectable repetition and a short campaign.
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Cardboard Rockets
After some initial hesitation that Crafted World’s cardboard diorama-esque artstyle would not be as memorable as its woolly predecessor, I grew to adore the aesthetic. Everything about the art style pops with levels looking like were made out of real craft supplies, aside from some weirdly textured enemies and objects, namely Piranha Plants and Yoshi’s eggs respectively. Intricate level details add to the illusion of living inside a cardboard diorama, including floating plates lifted by string and clouds with visible tape. The way everyday objects are combined is truly remarkable, coming in full force during boss introduction cinematics and upon entering each world. Combined with a buttery smooth sixty frames per second across both docked and handheld modes, I hope Yoshi’s Crafted World’s art style gets iterated on in future installments due to its impressive level of immersion.
One thing I do hope however does not get translated to the next installment is Crafted World’s abhorrent soundtrack. Only a handful of compositions stand out, and the rest are among the most uninspired and ear-wrenching tracks I have heard in a video game. Given that a majority of the songs take inspiration from the main theme, which is abysmal enough for its blend of screeching instruments, the soundtrack came across as a gargantuan letdown that had me lurching for the mute button, especially since most tracks do not fit their respective levels. Part of me wonders whether the soundtrack consisted of leftovers from Yoshi’s New Island since a lot of the tracks sound strikingly similar. Either way, I struggle to wrap my head around how this soundtrack was acceptable to Nintendo, Good-Feel, or even the composers themselves, and the music brings down the otherwise terrific presentation.
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Verdict
Despite its fantastic arts and crafts aesthetic, Yoshi’s Crafted World does not have enough glue to maintain it. While Crafted’s consistently creative levels and structure keep it afloat, it nearby drowns in mediocrity by robbing the Yoshi series of the challenge and fun unlockables that it is known for, further hampered by a dreadful soundtrack. The main new mechanic with throwing eggs into the background and foreground is seldom used effectively and is to safe an iteration for a series that was begging for innovation, especially during a generation highlighted by the colossal successes of Nintendo’s modern reinventions of its trademark Mario and Zelda franchises. I enjoyed my time with the game, but am aware that in order for Yoshi to get back on his feet, some massive experimentation must take place, including a new narrative. Otherwise, Mario’s favorite dinosaur might remain forever taped to the Jurassic period.
