Games / Game Reviews

Review: Yoshi's New Island


By Sean Booker
April 25, 2014 - 00:18

Yoshinewislandboxart3ds_1.jpg

Yoshi’s New Island is a far too easy and overall boring platformer. The game sounds bad but looks good and the 3D is really nicely utilized. Level design is far too simple and short with some tedious and uninteresting collectables. It also introduces new motion controlled sections that end up feeling tacked on and meaningless. Much like a lot of the “New” Nintendo games, it won't keep your attention for very long.


The biggest issue with Yoshi’s New Island is the lack of any real depth or interest in the level design. The stages are dull and and visually similar; it causes the game to have an aura of monotony throughout. The levels within each world seem to almost repeat themselves in look and form. This also causes the variety of obstacles to become stagnated. You will see almost everything you need to in each worlds’ first stage. The lack of any real wow moment was disappointing.


The newest addition are mini games that use the 3DS’s gyroscope. Yoshi will transform into a number of different vehicles (submarine, helicopter, toboggan, etc.) and will rush forward while you tilt the machine to steer him around obstacles. These mini games are very short and show up quite rarely. The issue is that they feel more like last minute add-ons since they don’t have any meaningful impact. You can even skip them entirely if you want to finish the stage quicker.


It also doesn’t help that the game is far too easy. Only the final world will actually muster any real challenge. Protecting Baby Mario is far too simple a task since your reach and range of motion is huge. You’re also given a countdown to how long you have to retrieve him that refills if you get too low. There is honestly no sense of dread or danger ever in this game. Yoshi is able to jump high and stay airborne for far too long. There were a number of obstacles that I was able to skip by jumping over them.


Yoshi’s New Island does add in some more challenge with its three different collectables. It’s nice to see so much to search for but they end up becoming far more tedious than they’re worth. One of them basically makes you to have to never take damage while another requires you collect every single coin in the stage (including invisible ones that only appear if you cross their path). The collectables are annoying to find on all accounts but they do unlock additional challenging stages.


The visuals are nice and are the only real positive factor to the game. The different (though limited) environments look great in the cartoony, chalk-like style. It was also great to see that the 3D works real nicely throughout the game. I experienced no split imaging and the subtle use of the extra dimension made it entirely non-distracting. The game is also smart enough to know to turn the 3D off automatically when the gyroscope mini games come into play. On the other hand, there is no StreetPass feature and that’s always sad to see. However, seeing such a good implementation of one of this system’s unique characteristics was great.


The nice visual presentation is then hampered by the lackluster music throughout the game. I personally didn’t enjoy the vast majority of the songs. Even the main menu’s theme song was hard to listen to. Losing Baby Mario causes him to start crying and, even though it is supposed to, that sound effect was always very irritating to listen to. Unfortunately, I played this entire game on mute.


I should note that there is a multiplayer mode but I was unable to try it out since I didn’t have another person to play with.


Nintendo is known for some great platformers but they continue to make almost every “New” titled one to be no fun. Yoshi’s New Island is boring and uninteresting. The levels provide no real challenge and your character is far too capable when navigating these worlds. The collectables also didn’t cause me to want to replay the game but instead to ignore their tedium entirely. Despite looking real nice, this game is not a fun time.


Rating: 4 /10


Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12

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