The first day of E3 2015 brought with it our Nintendo appointment. That’s a big undertaking, too, as you can expect, because the Big N brought a lot of games to Los Angeles, with one of the biggest and brightest being Yoshi’s Woolly World, a title that easily proves that video games truly are art.
Yoshi’s Woolly World was one of our main focuses at the Nintendo booth, and it didn’t disappoint. In fact, it honestly blew me away. To say that it’s beautiful, impressive and not-to-be-missed would almost be an understatement, because this is looking like a serious Game of the Year contender.
What we demoed was a basic stage, which gave us a great idea of what to expect from the full experience. It was easy, yes, but incredibly fun and a treat to play in co-op. Put simply, Yoshi’s Woolly World is beautiful and hands-down one of the most original and “pretty” video games out there.
To enjoy this game, you’ll need to be someone who can unwind with a good platformer, and one which focuses on fun more than it does on presenting a challenge. Yoshi’s Woolly World is looking to be a pretty easy romp, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyable or replayable. There are, after all, secrets for those who don’t consider a game beaten until they’re at 100%, and surely things will become more difficult through progression.
What we played was seemingly an early level, and boy was it colourful, not to mention accessible. Things began as our two Yoshis came to digital life and started to move from right to left in standard platforming fashion. We ran, we jumped and we peddled in mid-air as Yoshi tends to love to do. What we also did, though, was collect wooly eggs, and lots of them.
What’s neat about this experience is that it takes place in a world that is made out of a building block of ours. Well, our fashion world, at least. As such, Yoshi has the ability to influence what’s around him, either by pushing things aside (to uncover secrets) or by using yarn to his advantage. What do I mean by that? Well, we saw some windmills that were bare, and the only way to turn them into platforms was by throwing yarn at them. Once it hit, we had traversable platforms, and something to sit on until we got close enough to jump off without dying.
Now, keep in mind that said eggs are able to be thrown at enemies, piranha plants included. This is helpful, as is having a friend who’s playing with you. Thankfully, I had my colleague Christian Law to play with and we certainly helped each other out a lot through the course of the demo.
Overall, I had loads of fun with Yoshi’s Woolly World. It’s a game that screams both nostalgia and innocence, and is something that will be tough to forget once you put it down. It’s a video game, but also it’s art, and everything combines to make for a unique, and absolutely gorgeous, experience.
