Yoshi's Woolly World

This game was one of the platformers I was really excited for this year, mainly because I'd heard so many people raving about it at last year's E3, AND because I'd modestly enjoyed Kirby's Epic Yarn back in 2010 which this game seemed to have taken a great bit of inspiration from. Now that I have it and have actually beaten it (it only took a few days :P) I can say that this game was... well it was a nice little treat. Nothing special really, if you've played a Yoshi's Island game before then there's little to nothing here that will surprise you. Before this game had been released Nintendo had claimed that the wool aspect of the game would be more than just an aesthetic, and that it would be an integral part of the game-play. And sure that's technically true, you might not be able to progress in certain levels unless you've unravelled a piece of the world or filled in a platform with wool; these moments are relatively sparse, and hardly "integral". That said, this is still a solid platformer, you can expect nothing less from Nintendo. And contrary to popular belief about Nintendo's platformers this is actually a decently challenging game, specifically if you're like me and you wanna collect all of the cleverly hidden secrets in each level, which you'll wanna do because that unlocks secret levels and cute Yoshi costumes. :3

This game is still pretty forgiving though, you have unlimited lives so you never loose checkpoints, and if you really don't give a sh** you can just switch onto mellow mode and float your way over to the exit while invincible.... like a little b**** :P.... I appreciated the attempt to give each level some sort of defining characteristic, even if it wasn't always that interesting or inspired, there were some highlights though, like the Donkey Kong style curtain riding levels, the two haunted houses, the magic carpet level, and that awesome Velcro conveyor belt level near the end :3 The Boss's were decent, but I wished that the mid-bosses wouldn't just alternate between the mole and the koopa, there could have been more of a creative license employed. The little segments where Yoshi would transform into different objects like a plane or a motorcycle were actually pretty fun if not a bit short. And generally speaking, I feel like the level designs here are lacking in a sense of brilliance, urgency, and flamboyancy where the best franchises in this genre hit home runs in *cough* Donkey Kong Country Returns *cough* Rayman *cough*. Still, with this level of polish and care put into Yoshi's Woolly World it's hard to say that this isn't at least a good platformer. But where Kirby's Epic Yarn was a totally new experience with the Kirby license haphazardly slapped on at the last minute, this game feels like a text-book Yoshi game with the wool gimmick slapped on at the last minute.