Yoku's Island Express Reviews
Yoku's Island Express packs just enough to be a fun and simple 2D platformer with a delightful pinball component to make it standout amidst all the recent incursions of the Metroidvania style. While the game could certainly use a longer lifespan, its marvelous level design, music, gameplay mechanics and fun adventure will keep the players well amused for some time.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
In short, if you are looking for a good platform game, fun and challenging, Yoku's Island Express will not only meet your expectations, but will exceed them. An excellent game that mixes two genres in a very successful way.
Yoku's Island Express is one of those titles to be valued without reserve, hoping to send a message to the market and the development team, and to have an ecosystem populated by less approved and braver projects.
Yoku's Island Express is the open-world pinball adventure you never knew you wanted, but that you desperately need to play. The vibrant art, expansive world, and fun story come together with the best elements of metroidvania and pinball games to create a new experience unlike anything else out there.
A cool hybrid of platforming, puzzling and pinball, Yoku's Island Express is a bit of a one-off, and therefore well worth seeking out.
Overall, there's not a lot to dislike about Yoku's Island Express. It's deep, it's fun, and while the main character may not be memorable as a Rayman or a Mario, the gameplay is so well-planned that you aren't in need of a strong lead character to make it all work. Villa Gorilla did one helluva job with this release and it's a game that shouldn't be overlooked.
A mash-up of genres whose flaws can be overlooked thanks to a huge dollop of charm.
Yoku's Island Express is wholly unique - a seamless blend of platformer, pinball, and puzzle game that never outstays its welcome our wears out its charming visual style. Highly recommended.
Yoku's Island Express perfectly blends Metroidvania platformer with pinball game, and it's incredibly smooth and fun.
Review in Chinese | Read full review
Beautiful to look and gentle at first, but some sections can ramp up the frustration to breaking point
For as many great, engaging or immersive outings we've already been treated to in the past few years with this genre, Yoku's Island Express can now be added to that same list of essential efforts with an identity that is all its own.
Yoku's Island Express is the perfect combination of pinball mechanics meets metroidvania, and is not only my favorite indie game so far this year, but my favorite pinball game of all time.
Pinballs are coming back within this title, whose narrative background is not so deep and intense, while its gameplay and tactics features are really well conceived. Colourful, frenetic and catchy, Yoku's Island Express is a good alternative in a AAA-dominated market. Boredom not included.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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Yoku's Island Express combines pinball with exploration in an irresistibly charming and gorgeous adventure game.
Yoku's Island Express is the perfect mixture of pinball and video games. Taking the best of both worlds and dropping it into a charming setting filled with likable characters makes for a relaxing romp that shouldn't be missed.
Yoku's Island Express brought something to the table few games, even among those I enjoyed, have managed to recently - a true sense of freshness. It really is unlike most games on the market, and it manages to grow beyond this defining gimmick, nailing almost every other aspect. Between the fantastic gameplay, lovely presentation and endearing characters, minor faults like excessive backtracking and a somewhat flat main storyline are negligible.
Yoku's Island Express is far from bad. It has great ideas, a very good soundtrack, and competent gameplay. But while there's not too much actively wrong with it, it doesn't do anything exceptionally well either. It'll do.
For everyone out there who has been beaten down by the relentless pursuit of thrills and high scores, Yoku's Island Express is going to feel very refreshing. It's a charming vacation filled with beautiful locales. Taking the time to explore everything is highly recommended. The emphasis on pinball lends the game a superbly-realised identity. Utilising an array of bumpers and flippers to get around is somehow more fulfilling than tapping a jump button repeatedly. Altogether, this is a worthwhile venture for anyone who needs a break.
It's rare a game is as endlessly joyous as Yoku's Island Express.