Temporarily exhausted the golden vein of Mario's events, the rich and interminable material of one of the longest-running franchises in videogame history is being shaped; it's time to turn the spotlight on the nice supporting actors who have accompanied the mustachioed plumber of the red N in its vicissitudes. Thus, while the Super Mario Bros. take a break from their adventures, the different characters that populate the universe of this incredibly imperishable and fertile franchise come out in the open, in a succession of titles baked even at a short distance Between them.
A few days after the release of Kirby is the new stuff of the hero, another adventure dedicated to the green dinosaur of this universe is released for the Switch laptop, Yoshi's Crafted World, available from 29 March. A world absolutely colorful and with an original touch opens its doors on our consoles, revealing an increasingly refined work of the development team Good-Feel. Let's not waste any more time and discover together this journey with the cutest winged dinosaur of the series!
On the hunt for gems and old acquaintances
As often happens to us when we have a title from the Super Mario series in our hands, the plot is never particularly complex. Not even this occasion denies the production of Nintendo, where the basis of the narrative are rather linear: the typical atmosphere of peace and serenity that hovers in the world of the colorful Yoshi is definitively disturbed by the theft of the five gems set around the sun symbol of desires. I'm very Kamek e Baby Bowser to swoop down from the sky aboard a sort of flying broom and take away the precious stones, scattering them in the different worlds that we will have to cross to recover the stolen goods, level after level.
After choosing one or two of the different dinosaurs available, depending on the single or multiplayer mode with which we will decide to face the game, we set out on a path composed of yellow dots that show us the way and that will lead us to meet many different characters, in a game that we will be able to complete gradually.
This basic ease is not only due to the double choice of difficulty level at the beginning of the game, but also to the classic structure of the games of this franchise that do not struggle to lose luster, an eternal youth that seems to last over time and a winning formula that does not miss a beat. In fact, we have on our hands a game that develops into one absolutely classic mode: Each level unfolds between different enemies to face, including the typical figures of the Shy Guys, better known as Shy Guys, and other encounters with old acquaintances, which will make us feel at home, as we collect coins, items and other rewards to accumulate to 100% complete each level.
While the overall number of these levels is good, it won't take long to pass each of them, also considering the incentives we will have to search the route again already done previously, to find new treasures to collect and do a favor to the characters we meet, who will open the way to side quest in disguise to lengthen (slightly) the longevity of the game.
Simply relaxing
From a technical point of view, Yoshi's Crafted World is a platformer in 2.5D which well repeats what we have already observed previously in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, where the actions we can perform are really limited and elementary: we will be able to jump and run, as well as throw objects, even unexpected ones, and directly swallow enemies to spit them out like bullets, thus obtaining new weapons. But if walking and jumping from one obstacle to another seems too boring, it's time to soar in the air and stay in flight even for a long time, to reach hidden rewards and rewards, as well as make it easier for us to complete this mission. We won't even have to fear that the dinosaur decides to glide on the ground without our wanting to, remaining in the air for as long as we need. So far, therefore, we do not seem to have noticed anything particularly captivating, but if the pillars of the narrative seem weak and fairly stereotypical of the genre in question, we can say the exact opposite of the technical and graphic sector.
The work done by the development team meant that an absolutely fluid and enjoyable game arrived on our consoles at all times, allowing us to enjoy every single moment of the game. without having to worry about bugs, framerate or game loading problems, not even when we have to go from one world to another.
If the commands and actions to be performed are not numerous to remember, this will contribute to making them from theimmediate assimilation and to keep the level of naturalness is high with which we approach the game, without considering that the entire gameplay seems to have been designed to disturb the gaming experience to a minimum. Enemies quite easy to defeat, techniques and logic that are not at all cumbersome to learn and understand when facing a boss, no lives to climb to keep an eye on or performance anxiety in accumulating experience points: simply a journey that flows from one screen to another, throwing eggs, turtles and hooking the crosshairs or not to throw objects and score points.
The elementary originality of the material
An almost elementary and childish level of difficulty and conception, both in the lightness with which we can face the game, and in the creativity that has given shape to this universe. The novelty, the spearhead of this title, is that real materials have been used for virtually create characters, obstacles and many other elements of Yoshi's Crafted World, where cloth, paper, tin and more were modeled specifically for the occasion. The textures and veins of the elements used to give life to characters and objects resume a bit the model and style of Unravel, without however neglecting any special effects in the movements and sounds, perfectly synchronized with each other. If the soundtrack does not present particular memorable tracks, it is the set of sound effects and voices characterizing the various characters that punctuate the game in a rather natural way, further confirming the experience and passion of the team that made these worlds truly. unique and absolutely enjoyable, once again playing Nintendo's invincible ace in the hole.
Yoshi's Crafted World
Pro 
- Excellent, bug-free graphics and framerate
- Original creation of characters and objects with real materials
- Enjoyment of the game in absolute relaxation
Cons 
- Unstructured and stereotypical narrative
