Yoshi’s Wooly World is a game that is as intelligent in its design as it is committed to its aesthetic. Yoshi’s Wooly World remembers how to be a game with a gimmick, not a gimmick in a game box. At every level of Yoshi’s Wooly World, it feels like the designers were asking, “But is it fun? Is it interesting? Is it cute? Where else can we cram in some kind of delight?”
The meticulous attention to detail that went into Yoshi’s Woolly World, and the love that must have gone into it, has resulted in a delightful game that makes me miss Nintendo from this year’s holiday season even more dearly.
Yoshi’s Wooly World is a beautiful game, unquestionably. The Wii U isn’t the most powerful console on the market, but it more than suffices to beautifully render as many textures of yarn, leather, argyle and wool as Yoshi’s Woolly World throws at it. The levels are quite varied from one to the next, with each “world” having a different color palette and aesthetic -- woods, deserts, desserts, deep jungle. You can collect different Yoshi skins in each level, so you can play as a new Yoshi in every single level if you feel like it. The variations unfold in welcoming profusion, though all share the charming conceit of clothing textures.
The “wooly world” conceit goes deep. I didn’t think the concept could be stretched so far without feeling thin. Instead, every new quirk of background design gives you something charming to absorb. Waterfalls are waving ribbons, water has the sheen of satin, fires glitter with sequins and rhinestones, enemies throw buttons, Yoshi unravels when it travels through warp tubes -- the list of ways in which Yoshi’s Wooly World keeps to its handmade theme goes on and on.
The aesthetic of Yoshi’s Wooly World extends easily and naturally into gameplay, which is simple, natural, and inventive. Yoshi’s Wooly World benefits substantially from platformers of yesteryear, like Kirby’s Epic Yarn and the original Yoshi’s Island, but even in that context it stands out.
While clothing textures are the name of the game, Yoshi’s Wooly World explores as many other options for creating interest as it can conceive without departing from the cuteness that marks such a huge portion of its appeal. In one level, you throw baby chicks instead of yarn, creating your own platforms out of the puffy cloud trails they leave behind. In another, you travel on the cloud puffs left behind by sturdy little Buffalo Bills. In one world you must struggle to keep afloat on huge clouds through which you constantly threaten to sink, like quicksand. Another world memorably sends you swinging on curtains the whole way through with dizzying, exhilarating speed. There are special doors, marked with an enticing question mark, that will transform your Yoshi into a one-off Yoshi-hybrid of a drill or a plane or a mermaid that can blast through the level and obliterate enemies with glee-inducing ease.
Of course, Yoshi famously can and will eat almost anything. In this game, Yoshi’s departed foes emerges from its little yarn body in the form of yarn balls, colored to match your dispatched enemies. While yarnboxes appear with regularity to provide you with yarn ammunition, always exactly where they’re most needed, you’ll be able to exploit the levels best if you’ve got yarn to spare at each turn.
If the game gets too hard, there’s two main ways to adjust the difficulty. The first is to switch to “Mellow Mode,” a mode which gives Yoshi an adorable little pair of angel wings and the ability to hover through the air indefinitely, as well as providing tons more hearts. The second way to adjust the difficulty is to use the “power badges” you unlock throughout the course of the game. For example, there is a power badge that enables you to simply bounce out of pits instead of falling to your death, as well as a power badge that makes you immune to fire and lava (very handy in that desert world).
Yoshi’s Wooly World might be a kids’ games, but in the best tradition of the best kids’ games, it doesn’t think kids are stupid. The challenges are hard enough that you feel smart for figuring them out without making you fling the controller in disgust, mostly . (In the best tradition of Nintendo games, of course the level where you adjust the water heights is one of the most annoying.) For the most part, you can breeze through a level with ease if you aren’t hunting for collectibles.
There’s a few spots where checkpoints should have been set (right before entering boss fights), but they weren’t, making you replay the last bit of a level multiple times on your ignominious trudge towards a rematch. But for the most part, everything is where you need it, from checkpoints to platforms. Some of those platforms are hidden, of course, which is where the ubiquitous hidden item boxes come in. See a spot that seems truly impossible to get to? Fling a yarn ball its way just to test out whether a hidden item lurks there. You also get a power badge later that enables you to see hidden item spots without having to throw a yarn ball or run through it.
In terms of level collectibles, there are stamps, daisies, and yarn bundles. Collect all the yarn bundles in a level and you’ll unlock a special Yoshi outfit. Collect the stamps and you’ll get Miiverse stickers, which, whatever, but collect all the daisies and you’ll unlock the mega-difficult S-levels. The collectibles really reward you for scouring the wooly landscape. Rarely have I ever felt so rewarded for my obsessive need to backtrack and examine every corner of a level.
With only a few levels excepted, you can explore Yoshi’s Wooly World at your own pace, which makes the game feel even more comfortable and comforting. Yoshi’s Wooly World is as hard as you want it to be, but no matter how hard you choose to make it, it will always be cute.
The only thing about Yoshi’s Wooly World I really didn’t care for was the music, which didn’t match the variety, cuteness, or inventiveness of the level design. Boss fights are easy enough, with all of them sharing the same basic mechanics, but gathering the collectibles is a much tougher battle than any individual boss fight. As for co-op mode, it’s perfect for a pair of siblings and does make the level easier, as well as providing lots of moments of couch hilarity.
In short, Yoshi’s Wooly World is a great game, accessible both to young children and older gamers. It’s well worth the purchase price and should be one of the best things in your Wii U library. Yoshi’s Wooly World comes out Oct. 16 for Wii U.
