Yoshi's Crafted World Review: 5 Ups & 2 Downs

Nobody in their right mind would ever doubt Nintendo's ability to melt the heart of even the most stone-willed person, so it shouldn't surprise you that Yoshi's Crafted World is an absolute gem that will make you smile whether you want to or not.

Everything from the peacefully-soothing music to the downright delightful art design provides an atmosphere of total relief. This is a game where the intention is to give the player something of an escape; a stress-free place where you can just enjoy your time and not worry about hardship.

Crafted World achieves this in spades, but it does end up being something of a double-edged sword. After all, in order to provide something that isn't too demanding, genuine challenge and difficulty are ditched. Much of the game will feel like a breeze, wistfully pushing you along a series of visually-pleasing, creative levels that don't put up much in the form of stumbling blocks to get in your way. It's not much different from the likes of Wooly World and Yoshi's Story, mostly providing an ever-increasing amount of polish and graphical fidelity as time goes on.

Overall, Yoshi's Crafted World is an incredibly-smooth platformer that's a delight to the senses and to the heart, but not a very revolutionary or tough one.

The jump from the Nintendo 64's Yoshi's Story to Wooly World for the Wii-U was considerable and noteworthy. The almost two-decade gap allowed Wooly World to shine in so many ways because the release gap between 3D Yoshi titles was so considerable. This puts Crafted World in a tough spot as it's 'only' been 4 years since WW and the differences between instalments aren't grand.

After playing both the previous title and CW, there's just not much of a difference between the two. Crafted World is a smoother, more inventive experience overall, but there's a lacking sense of ambition here. Exploring the foregrounds and backgrounds of levels for secrets is entertaining as always and keeps you analyzing to see what you've missed, but there's just not much else added on top of the foundation established with Wooly World.

This is a series known particularly well for its well-suited simplicity, but that doesn't mean they couldn't have gone bolder. If any company can add on features and evolve a series while maintaining a core values, it's Nintendo.

This is still the quality Yoshi series fans remember, but just a bit too familiar feeling.