April Edition Live Magazine - April 2014 Issue. | Page 86

7.5/10
100% complete, the world’s secret
level will be unlocked. These secret levels are much more challenging then the main levels, which is a
good thing, as unlike Yoshi’s Island
and Island DS, New Island is much
less difficult. Levels aren’t really that
difficult. In fact, a good portion of
my deaths were from accidentally
ground pounding in mid-air over a
pit (although this may be a problem
of the 3DS control-nub rather than
Arzest’s fault.) However, this lower
level of difficulty does make it easier
for younger gamers and newcomers
to play. If you die three times in a level, you will be given the Flutter Wing,
which allows you to constantly flutter jump without losing altitude. Because you can’t keep gaining height
with this, only distance, you still have
to do platforming to get to higher areas, so it makes the game easier for
those having trouble without handholding them. And if you die while
using the Flutter Wing, you’ll be given a stronger variant that makes you
invincible to enemies.
The usual egg mechanics are present, yet oddly egg-rebounding puzzles are not that common. Annoyingly, when standing still Yoshi takes
a full second to grab and egg to prepare to throw it, which really shows
during segments where Yoshi has
to rush but nabbing objects requires
precision. Speaking of eggs, the big-

stick with them. Its ease of difficulty
and level design will easily leave
newcomers and younger gamers
with a fun game to enjoy, but it will
also leave series veterans wanting.

gest new feature of the game are the
Eggdozers, of which there are two
kinds. If Yoshi eats a giant Shy Guy,
he will lay a Mega Eggdozer. These
giant eggs will destroy everything
in their path when thrown, allowing
Yoshi to access blocked paths and
gain extra lives. However they really
don’t add much besides being visually impressive, and slow down the
action each time one is used. Metal
Eggdozers on the other hand, add
an interesting new dynamic gameplay. Obtained when Yoshi eats a
Metal Shy Guy, Metal Eggdozers will
also destroy everything they roll into,
but they also grant Yoshi the ability
to go underwater. Walking underwater allows Yoshi to access new paths
and can obtain hidden goodies. The
trick is to know when and where to
throw the egg, otherwise you’ll rise
to the surface too early and miss out
on collectables. There is also a really cool segment in one level where
a Shy Guy disguises himself as a

Yoshi and copies Yoshi’s movements, but is in a maze and must
be lured into a spike trap while the
real Yoshi has to traverse different
terrain while figuring out the right
movements. Sadly, this mechanic
only appears in one level and is not
used again.
A major point of contention when
the game was first revealed was
the art-style. The levels looked like
the traditional crayon-like look of
the original game combined with
the 3D characters of Yoshi’s Story,
with many claiming it looked odd
and ugly. I too had reservations
about this, but fortunately the artstyle wo rks quite well in the game,
it just needs to be seen in person.
Some of the enemy models are imported from New Super Mario Bros
2, which kinda clashes with the rest
of the games style (particularly the
Final Boss), but overall, the models are charming and compliment

the art. The soundtrack on the other
hand, is quite the mixed bag. Most
of the songs are pretty harmless,
though unmemorable, but the ones
that use Kazoos, such as the Title
Menu theme and Cruise the Clouds
level theme are really harsh on the
ears. This is somewhat counterbalanced by some songs that are quite
good, such as themes of levels like
Hop ‘n’ Pop Till You Drop and Bandit
Valley.
The vehicle transformations from
previous instalments also return, but
work much differently now. Whereas
in the original game they compulsory parts of the level, the majority of
these in the new game are optional
segments with the exception of the
first few levels. Instead of having
multiple pathways, these segments
are now rather linear and somewhat
lack the charm of the original transformations. All of these transformations use gyro-controls, which work

well for some like the minecart and
bobsleigh, but in the case of forms
like the helicopter or submarine, the
more precise control needed works
against the gyro-controls’ favour and
these segments tend to be hard due
to their imprecise controls.
The boss fights in the game are of
the trademark “three hits to defeat”
variety and are rather easy. Unlike
previous games where each fortress
and castle had a different boss, all
the fortress levels have Kamek as
their boss, while only the castle
levels have the series’ traditional
souped-up giant version of regular
enemies theme. Disappointingly, the
final boss is rather easy and doesn’t
really differentiate itself from the final
boss fights from Yoshi’s Island and
Island DS.
Yoshi’s New Island is a game that
sticks to the core values of the original Yoshi’s Island and throughs in
a few new ideas, but doesn’t really

Overall, Yoshi’s New Island is a
solid, fun game. Its design allows
a newer generation of gamers to
enjoy a game many of us enjoyed
many years ago in the past, and it
does offer some new and interesting concepts to keep the gameplay
from being a retread of its predecessor. Older fans however, will be
left wanting and will have to look
elsewhere for what they seek.

Written by Jacob Getley

www.stickytriggerentertainment.com

PROS
•

Newcomer-friendly

•

Metal Eggdozers are
awesome!

•

•

No more “Perfects Runs”

The Yoshi Clone segment

CONS
•

Levels are too easy and short

•

Soundtrack is a mixed-bag

•
•

Linearity

Gyro-Controls for
Transformations