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

If you haven't noticed already, Yoshi's Crafted World is such a gift to the eyes. Ever since the days of Yoshi's Story, this series has always had a distinct style that can be described as both stylish and intensely adorable. They also have their own themes that influence the gameplay and the presentation. Story had a storybook aesthetic, Wooly World had yarn, and Crafted World continues the visually-pleasing art design with a world that feels like it came as a result of a third-grader's art project.

Objects in the background are propped up with little kickstands, butterflies populate the highest corners of the screen while dangling from strings, and each will fly away with complete (and fitting) weightlessness if you ever hit them. Art direction serves not only a graphical purpose but a gameplay one as well. Progress in certain sections come in the form of striking a cardboard box in your path that unfolds into a set of stairs (each step forming a perfect right angle).

This even extends to Yoshi's plentiful amount of alternate costumes, which are either homemade cardboard materials or old condiments like coffee creamers. Crafted World takes what could've been a simple gimmick and made it a central component, ensuring its potential would not be squandered.