Avery & Papa Play & Review Yoshi’s Crafted World…
It’s lovely to have a daughter who is just coming into the age to be able to really play video games. Avery & I have several we enjoy a lot, but her favorite used to be Yoshi’s Woolly World for the Wii U. So we were very much looking forward to getting the new Yoshi’s Crafted World for our Switch. And I got it for my birthday last week!
What does Avery think of this new Yoshi game? Watch some gameplay and our video review right here:
Yoshi’s Crafted World is utterly charming. Visually, it’s stunning, yadda-yadda-yadda, you’ve seen it, you know; its visuals are amazing, intricate, and very creative. Spiritually it’s a sequel to Yoshi’s Woolly World and has a lot of similarities in gameplay, level design, sound design, etc. There are some notable differences, though. The biggest gameplay change is the way eating and egging works.
In all previous Yoshi games when you ate an enemy you would hold them in your mouth. You could then spit them out as a projectile or press down to swallow them and convert them into an egg (Yoshi’s biology is endlessly fascinating). Crafted, though, eschews that process; when you eat an enemy that can be converted into an egg, it is automatically immediately converted into an egg. You can no longer carry egg-able enemies in your mouth.
The other main change is aiming. When you press the egg button, a cursor appears on the screen and from then until you press the button again to throw the egg, the control stick moves the aiming cursor around instead of moving Yoshi around. This makes aiming way more precise (there’s also a nice effect where objects/enemies gain a very visible outline when the egg is aimed at them), but it completely removes the ability to throw eggs on the run. Yoshi stands rock still until you’re done aiming and have released the egg (you can hit the jump or tongue buttons to cancel out of egg aiming early if you don’t want to waste an egg).
The other main difference is in co-op. As you can see from our video, the Yoshis in this game can ride on each other’s backs. When stacked, the bottom Yoshi controls all movement and can tongue at will but cannot throw eggs. The top Yoshi controls all egg throwing (and has unlimited eggs while on its compatriot’s back), but can only tongue up at a 45° angle and cannot control movement at all (other than to jump off of the lower Yoshi’s back). This is fantastic for playing with younger, less-skilled players. Avery and I would often play through entire levels with her on my back slinging eggs while I did the harder platforming work.
Not that it ever gets really difficult. Crafted World is a game that wants you to succeed. It’s more about exploration and finding the hidden treasures than it is about fighting and dodging. There are only a very small handful of physically challenging levels (and a couple of ghost-themed levels that scared Avery just a li’l bit). But while it may seem like it’s a breeze to get through it, there’s a lot of replay value to try to find every single last flower and red coin in every single last level (Avery calls getting 100% in a level “Getting a flower on our map,” which is completely adorable). Also you can replay each level in reverse—literally! The screen flips around and you see the backside of the diorama you’ve been playing through. In these reverse levels you’re tasked with finding some Poochy Pups scattered throughout the level and getting to the end (start?) within a certain time limit. Finally, various robots on the map will task you with throwing eggs at particular background elements in some levels for even more play-through possibilities.
In conclusion: It’s better than “Smashies” (AKA Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), even though you can design your own levels in that game. High praise!
We had a lot of fun making this video (as you can see), so I hope you enjoyed it!
Categories: Reviews, Video Game Reviews, Video Games, Videos.
