Yoku's Island Express Reviews
For the most part though, Yoku's Island Express is a lot of wholesome, whimsical fun. It manages to make the hybrid of two disparate genres work in some inspired ways, and the result is a unique game full of surprises that is sure to delight players.
Unusual pinball adventure in Yoku's open world with nice level design for players who love physics-based platformers and metroidvania.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Yoku’s Island Express is an incredibly fun and exceptionally beautiful game that somehow makes pinball fun. It offers a large variety of locations and has plenty of collectibles that will keep you occupied for a good amount of time.
Yoku's Island Express innovates by combining pinball mechanics to platform and metroidvania genres, blending them in a unique and fun way. Despite focusing too much on pinball and having few moments of action (that, when occur, are well-made and creative), the game has an interesting story and a dazzling world to be explored.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Yoku's Island Express is a very fun pinball/Metroidvania that you should check out on Nintendo Switch. The colorful art style and the great level design, mixed with the pinball mechanics and the Metroidvania side of things, make this a very entertaining release that everyone can enjoy, even those who are not a fan of full-on pinball games. Villa Gorilla HAS certainly found a creative way of presenting a new type of game, and one I'm sure you're going to like.
As has become tradition on Nintendo consoles, Yoku's is an indie title that stands on level footing with some premium offerings in the eShop. Don't let this one roll past you as you scroll through the different games on offer for Switch, as it's a genuine delight.
Yoku's Island Express is a game that you'll encourage others to check out the minute you start playing. Aside from the gorgeous aesthetics, the use of pinball mechanics is inspired, and the execution of the mechanics is done well. It's a relatively short experience, but it feels packed with tons of side-quests if you can deal with the backtracking seeming to go on a little longer than usual due to the pinball mechanics. Overall, Yoku's Island Express is a brilliant game that adventure fans need.
With only a few small niggles to complain about, Yoku's Island Express successfully merges pinball and platforming without ever making the former feel like a gimmick. Its beautiful presentation and fun, engaging exploration blend together to create a truly unique experience.
Yoku's Island Express is the best indie game that I've played this year so far.
Yoku's Island Express is a great time, it's a charming and enjoyable for any audience.
The unique blend of metroidvania and pinball is done excellently and with a great aesthetic to match. The world is also full of secrets to find, but is victim to a number of boring fetch quests.
A nice show of unique gameplay mechanics with the inclusion of boss battles that mixes both platforming and pinball action that never gets old as each and every area is unique and properly executed. A flurry of characters… oh sorry! I meant a ton of furry characters that looks great and side quests that is actually fun to do as you think your way out of sticky situations or just tap your way, every way, along the way!
Yoku's Island Express is the best indie game of 2018 so far and an unmissable wholesome jaunt that manages to bind pinball gameplay with a gorgeous sun-soaked open world brimming with wholesome characters and secrets that will keep you paddling for hours on end.
If there’s one type of game I never thought I’d be praising to the high heavens in 2018, it’s a 2D Metroidvania-esque puzzle pinball platformer featuring a Dung Beetle as its protagonist. Even those words written together make very little sense to me, and on paper Yoku’s Island Express should be an absolute trainwreck. Keeping as many genre balls the air as developer Villa Gorilla are doing here Yoku feels like somewhat of a herculean task, and yet here we are. Yoku’s Island Express is my favourite platformer of 2018 so far, and I’m not even sure it’s a platformer at all.
Yoku's Island Express surprised me from start to finish. It has taken the core pinball mechanics and blended it with a wonderful story, memorable characters, and natural progression system that you would see in a platforming game. The mechanics work exceptionally well, and it is a joy to play from start to finish. If you love pinball and want to see it in a refreshing way, then you owe it to yourself to check out Yoku's Island Express.
All said, Yoku's Island Express is a breath of fresh and creative air on the Switch and just what this jaded gamer needed to get out of a pretty serious "more of the same" funk. As a life-long fan of pinball I'm thrilled with the result and enjoyed the many ways mechanical concepts from physical machines managed to get integrated into this adventure-style format. Even if you're more of a pinball novice, in general the controls are pretty friendly and approachable, you'll just need to develop a sense of timing and pay attention to certain patterns to determine what you'll need to do to progress. If you're down for something with boatloads of charm and heart mixed with a style of play you've likely never experienced before it is well worth picking up.
In conclusion we must say to be very satisfied with this little indie labeled Villa Gorilla; Yoku's Island Express is really a nice game, colorful, fun and full of adventure. It offers an always exciting challenge and proposes a genre that is certainly different from the usual one that mixes a classic platform with pinball components and exploratory parts. In short, a varied title with excellent facets that will surely offer you a good chance for fun!
Review in Italian | Read full review
Yoku’s Island Express is a one-off, and it needs to be – its ingenuity is perfectly contained on its own hole, and well worth the broadening of your gaming experience.
Yoku’s Island Express is a beautiful combination of pinball and metroidvania. It doesn’t require you to be particularly skilled at either and lacks the challenge often associated with both of those genres. However, I thoroughly enjoyed bouncing Yoku and his dungball around Mokumana Island and the collectibles are rewarding enough to have me working towards 100% completion.
Yoku's Island Express is a must-have on the Nintendo Switch. It's a fun fusion between a pinball game and Metroidvania, with great lifespan and innovative gameplay mechanics. Get it now, you can thank us later!