This game has one of the worst reputations of the switch library. Playing it, I was surprised to find a decent game inside. I enjoyed a lot about this adorable little adventure, but there are some issues that should not be ignored.
The bad? First off, The game is pretty slow in nature; Yoshi can't even sprint. He does more of a slightly faster stomp than any sort of run. Does it affect the game too heavily? Eh, not really, but if you're used to Mario then this game does feel significantly slower paced as you're playing it - feels like it can slog in some areas due to that.
Another thing I disliked about this game is just a personal pet peeve of mine, but I don't like when games feel like they are somewhat improved by turning on "the casual mode", as this feels like it's a punishment to the player for trying to make the game easier. The Mellow mode in this game helps you detect the smiley flowers in every level, which are necessary to progress. (You are allowed to miss some, though.) This should not be locked to the "casual" mode, as some of the flowers are decently well hidden, and the problem with this is that it punishes the player unnecessarily, and it could cause annoying and unneeded replays of levels just for a flower or 2 that you could probably STILL miss. None of the flowers are cryptic in any way, but I can see how players would gloss over some of them quite easily, and missing some of these more hidden flowers unnecessarily punishes the player.
The only other thing I found to really fall short in this title is the music. It's catchy, but so are diseases. It doesn't feel like the music changes almost at ALL during this game, and it's plain annoying. If you pay too much attention to what you're listening to, it'll make you want to rip your ears off. Besides that, I have nothing negative left to say about this one.
The good? Well, first off, this game is utterly adorable in its presentation. It reminds me a lot of Yoshi's Story on the N64, (which was also very cute) but it sets out to do far more than that game did. It's one of the Nintendo games made on the Unreal Engine, so it looks great as well! There's a lot of good to say about the level design, too. The levels in this game are very unique, and each one has some sort of different mechanic than the last. Despite them being unique, each level per world still feels like it fits the theme well enough. The creativity in this title is really out there, and I loved my time playing this game because of that. There are only a handful of flat out bad levels, maybe 3 or 4 total.
Contrary to popular belief, there's a LOT to do in this game, but hardly any of it is required to finish the game, so it's still quite casual friendly. (As Yoshi games should be.) This game is absolutely filled to the brim with content. Each level was designed twice, one to play normally, and then backwards after you beat it. (Yes, There's a unique gimmick for the backwards part of the level that does make it worth playing again) There's a TON of different costumes you can collect for your Yoshi, which I thought was really cool and added to the game's cute charm. Each level has red coins, and a challenge to finish it at full health. There's hidden secrets in every single level that you can go back and collect. Collectors and completionists could have a field day here.
One of the most important things I found during this game was that the bosses are absolutely immaculately designed. They were amazing!!! Each one is extremely different from the next, and there are a surprising amount of them. This game contained the boss design that I would expect from a 2D platformer. (Mario team take notes??) There's even boss challenges you unlock after beating the game, giving you incentive to go back and play them again.
Overall, I found this game to far succeed the value that most players gave it. I quite enjoyed my time with this game, and I do recommend giving this title a shot if you find yourself on the fence about it.
The bad? First off, The game is pretty slow in nature; Yoshi can't even sprint. He does more of a slightly faster stomp than any sort of run. Does it affect the game too heavily? Eh, not really, but if you're used to Mario then this game does feel significantly slower paced as you're playing it - feels like it can slog in some areas due to that.
Another thing I disliked about this game is just a personal pet peeve of mine, but I don't like when games feel like they are somewhat improved by turning on "the casual mode", as this feels like it's a punishment to the player for trying to make the game easier. The Mellow mode in this game helps you detect the smiley flowers in every level, which are necessary to progress. (You are allowed to miss some, though.) This should not be locked to the "casual" mode, as some of the flowers are decently well hidden, and the problem with this is that it punishes the player unnecessarily, and it could cause annoying and unneeded replays of levels just for a flower or 2 that you could probably STILL miss. None of the flowers are cryptic in any way, but I can see how players would gloss over some of them quite easily, and missing some of these more hidden flowers unnecessarily punishes the player.
The only other thing I found to really fall short in this title is the music. It's catchy, but so are diseases. It doesn't feel like the music changes almost at ALL during this game, and it's plain annoying. If you pay too much attention to what you're listening to, it'll make you want to rip your ears off. Besides that, I have nothing negative left to say about this one.
The good? Well, first off, this game is utterly adorable in its presentation. It reminds me a lot of Yoshi's Story on the N64, (which was also very cute) but it sets out to do far more than that game did. It's one of the Nintendo games made on the Unreal Engine, so it looks great as well! There's a lot of good to say about the level design, too. The levels in this game are very unique, and each one has some sort of different mechanic than the last. Despite them being unique, each level per world still feels like it fits the theme well enough. The creativity in this title is really out there, and I loved my time playing this game because of that. There are only a handful of flat out bad levels, maybe 3 or 4 total.
Contrary to popular belief, there's a LOT to do in this game, but hardly any of it is required to finish the game, so it's still quite casual friendly. (As Yoshi games should be.) This game is absolutely filled to the brim with content. Each level was designed twice, one to play normally, and then backwards after you beat it. (Yes, There's a unique gimmick for the backwards part of the level that does make it worth playing again) There's a TON of different costumes you can collect for your Yoshi, which I thought was really cool and added to the game's cute charm. Each level has red coins, and a challenge to finish it at full health. There's hidden secrets in every single level that you can go back and collect. Collectors and completionists could have a field day here.
One of the most important things I found during this game was that the bosses are absolutely immaculately designed. They were amazing!!! Each one is extremely different from the next, and there are a surprising amount of them. This game contained the boss design that I would expect from a 2D platformer. (Mario team take notes??) There's even boss challenges you unlock after beating the game, giving you incentive to go back and play them again.
Overall, I found this game to far succeed the value that most players gave it. I quite enjoyed my time with this game, and I do recommend giving this title a shot if you find yourself on the fence about it.