Sweet overload
Last year's reveal of a yarn-infused Yoshi game proved to be a bit premature. In the months that followed, as every other 3DS and Wii game Nintendo revealed was released, we heard nothing of this imaginative game. When it finally did at this year's E3, it had gone through a minor metamorphosis and gained an official name: Yoshi's Woolly World (AKA cutest name of the E3 and maybe all time). Set in a world where everything is made of yarn and string, Woolly World is a beautiful 2D adventure that'll charm your pants clean off right before putting them back together. With the yarn. This analogy has gone on for too long.
Yoshi (or Yoshis, if you're playing two-player co-op) looks hand-made and crocheted, sort of like Little Big Planet's Sackboy. But while the knit body is great, it's his amorphous form that surprised me the most. When Yoshi double jumps his bottom half warps and becomes propellers--when he runs full speed, his legs turn to wheels. It's fluid, and animated brilliantly. The world, too, has that same crafted aesthetic. Everything from the ground to the clouds look physical and like, super squishy. For as fun as it is to play, it's hard to avoid the temptation to just climb into the screen and roll around in the calming, adorable world.
After the relatively disappointing Yoshi's New Island, it's good to see the green dino get another game so quickly--especially one that seems to play pretty similarly to other Yoshi games. You're eating dudes, tossing eggs, and doing everything that makes Yoshi's games unique. It's set for a 2015 release, and we'll hopefully find out more soon.
Check out the following slides for additional images and more information.
ADORABLE STUFFED BOSS! HUG IT AND RUN!
Piranha Plants are less scary when they're fabric
It's a 2D game, but the environments look great in 3D
There's a wide variety of locations, all of which look like someone went crazy at a craft store.
Eggs are balls of yarn because of course they are