Yoshi's New Island Reviews
Yoshi's New Island is a great platformer, but it is ultimately hindered by its poor execution.
New Island relies too much on what has worked before and copy-pasted it onto a blasé platformer.
Given the difference in capabilities between the Nintendo DS and the 3DS, we had rather high expectations for Yoshi's side-scrolling return.
Yoshi's New Island is a fine salute to a SNES classic and an adorable, approachable platformer in its own right, but it's only likely to have value for players new to the genre - and even then, any appreciation of the game that they have is likely to be fleeting.
Yoshi’s New Island places almost all of its eggs in the nostalgia basket. It's a bold decision, but one that ultimately holds back the game by bringing with it some retro-inspired design best left to the 90s. Series fans will enjoy a trip back to this oft-forgotten Mario spin-off, and some of the newly introduced mechanics are good, if used too sparsely. Ultimately, though, Yoshi’s New Island is an enjoyable, but underwhelming, romp.
I was more than a little disappointed in the lack of challenge and overall content in Yoshi's New Island. The features that are included lack cohesion, and the bare bones multiplayer is laughable. Nintendo could argue that the design of the series is meant for a younger audience, yet I was twenty-seven when I played Yoshi's Island DS and thoroughly enjoyed it. Yoshi has had some grand adventures of his own, but sadly this is not one of them.
Yoshi's New Island borrows heavily from the original game, but it fails to match its flair or originality
Nintendo's struggled to make a memorable Yoshi game since Yoshi's Island, and this new 3DS platformer isn't going to change that.
Nintendo are famous for reinventing the wheel with their games, and throwing new ideas into old series that should have long become tired and repetitive but, sadly, Yoshi’s New Island just isn’t one of these titles. It’s enjoyable enough and has its own sense of atmosphere as well as a few unique ideas, but overall this actually feels like one of the decent but highly-iterative sequels that Nintendo is usually unfairly criticized for making. It is still fun, though, and while it may not innovate or be a classic, its joyous aesthetic and “pick up and play” nature make it at the very least a good choice for getting through the daily commute.
Read our review of 'Yoshi's New Island' to see why the iconic green dinosaur's latest outing is better left with a babysitter.
Sweet hand-drawn aesthetic and cute Yoshi sounds, but lacks any challenge.
It's just not as thrilling as some of its 2D platforming counterparts, or as innovative, especially at a time when the genre is going through something of a renaissance period.
Yoshi's New Island is a solid little platformer, but it struggles to be much more than that. It will, at least, kill a few hours of time, even if that time will hardly be remembered afterwards.
It may say “new” in the title, but there’s simply not enough to get excited about in Yoshi’s New Island. Fans of the original will probably be turned off by this inferior and all-too-familiar retread.
It's a shame Arzest routinely steps out of line when it comes to the visual and aural artistry of Yoshi's New Island, because the gameplay ushers the little spin-off that could into the current century.
Yoshi's New Island follows a similar formula as previous Nintendo remakes/reboots but ultimately falls short of recreating the magic we expect from Nintendo platformers. It is a shame that Yoshi's New Island could not provide enough new content to warrant its "new" name. Even if you enjoy the gameplay pulled directly out of the original title, it's hard to recommend playing this game over its predecessor (even if you've already played Yoshi's Island). Yoshi's Island DS has a little more variety and difficulty but ultimately, Nintendo just hasn't been able to reproduce the greatness of the original title.
Yoshi’s New Island looks great and plays like a Yoshi’s Island game, but that might not be enough for some people. The levels are bland, the bosses are blander, and the difficulty is too low and too static. It has bursts of creativity and maintains competency, but Yoshi’s Island deserves better than competency.
Whilst not a travesty in the platform stakes, unfortunately Yoshi's New Island is rather bland and nowhere near the quality of Yoshi's Island on the SNES, and probably not even as interesting as the oft-criticised Yoshi's Island DS. Arzest - made up of ex-Artoon staff - seems to have taken the DS title, removed the difficulty and tacked on some rather average extras to create what is nothing more than a 'decent platform title' rather than a worthy successor to the old classic. All eyes are now on Good Feel to see how Yarn Yoshi turns out…
So for me, veteran platformer (including Nintendo's many offerings), 'Yoshi's New Island' doesn't deliver. I'm forced then to conclude that I'm not the audience for this game, and that it would be much more suitable as an inexperienced gamer's first platformer. 'Yoshi's New Island' may actually fill a void in the world of gaming right now as the 3DS is as often in the hands of veteran Nintendo diehards like myself as it is in young, impressionable new gamers. I imagine a solid chunk of youngsters can enjoy this game as a step towards the bigger, the better and the more challenging.
Nintendo's latest 3DS platformer, while generally competent and sometimes fun, mostly just makes you wish you were playing a better game.