Well it's been a while, hasn't it?
I've actually not even touched Yoshi's New Island for a few weeks until just today when I beat 2-6 through all of World 3. I just found interest in other games, like Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land, both fantastic 3DS games.
But what of the latest sequel to my favorite video game of all time? Let's get into my thoughts on Worlds 2 and 3 of Yoshi's New Island.
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The first thing I've really started to notice is how unoriginal the levels are. And by unoriginal, I don't mean that the actual level layouts are copy-pasted, because the level layouts are unique and very well-made. What I'm talking about is the theme of the levels themselves.
For example, let's take Level 3-1 of Yoshi's New Island: "Rise of the Nasty Nep-Enuts". This level revolves around those giant blue guys (called Nep-Enuts) that pop out of water and get in your way until you hit them with an egg or two. But doesn't that sound familiar? Of course it does, because Level 3-3 of the original Yoshi's Island was called "Nep-Enut's Domain" and it had the exact same premise.
But that's just one level, right? Wrong. What about Level 2-7 of Yoshi's New Island: "Hidey-Hole Hooligans"? This level revolves around Lakitus hiding behind walls and throwing Spinys at you. Guess what? "Lakitu's Wall" is a level from the original that uses the exact same gimmick, and even better, it's also Level 2-7.
Yet another example. Level 3-3 of Yoshi's New Island is called "Harry Hedgehog's Labyrinth". The level design is a maze-like cave full of these spiny hedgehog creatures (Harry Hedgehogs) that rarely appear in any other level in the game. Level 3-6 of the original, "The Cave of Harry Hedgehog" could be described in exactly the same way.
But wait! There's more! Yoshi's New Island's Level 2-6 - "Gusty Glory" - uses the same gimmick as the original's 2-3 - "What's Gusty Taste Like?" - namely, a lot of Gusties flying all over the place.
Even more! Level 3-2 - "Ukiki Jammin'" - uses the same concept as the original's 3-5 - "Jammin' Through the Trees" - very little eggs in the level, encourages use of the Green Watermelons to kill enemies.
So in terms of original content and memorability, Yoshi's Island DS actually beats this game out by far. But the difference is that this game still plays much better.
The other major discovery I made was about how terribly designed these bosses are. And I'm not saying terribly designed as in they're all too easy or too hard - I just mean that they're bad bosses. It's really a mixed bag on the difficulty front, but regardless it's bad design.
I don't know whether I mentioned this in the World 1 post, but you fight Kamek in the fourth stage of every world in this game for some reason. His boss fights are just unoriginal and boring - until you get to World 3.
Kamek's fight in Level 3-4 might just be one of the most frustrating bosses I've ever fought in a video game. It's a clever idea, actually: shoot the balloons floating by with eggs to make bombs drop down on Kamek. The problem is that the balloons still drop bombs on you when you're underneath them. In addition, Kamek shoots spells at you and the two Egg-plants on the side of the room are spitting out the green spiny ball things (I forget their official name) that can damage you. Hitting Kamek with the bombs requires near-perfect precision and is completely discontinuous with the difficulty curve the game set - a really low one.
Then there's the boss of Level 3-8, which is a joke. All you have to do is hit it with eggs. The boss can easily be dodged if you stay on high ground, and he's so huge and slow that it's impossible to miss him. I really don't know what they were thinking with this one.
The World 2-8 boss wasn't too bad (it was the one they actually demoed at E3 last year), but the concept has been done to death. Remember King Zing Sting from Donkey Kong Country? This boss is almost the exact same.
The other thing worth noting is that I officially gave up on getting 100%. It's not because I couldn't do it, but when I didn't beat 2-4 with 30 stars I just decided "screw it" and continued to 2-5. Since then, I really never returned to complete a level. Like I said in World 1, I think the score system makes completing a level more satisfying.
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Beyond that, there's really not much else to say. The game's still enjoyable, but it just doesn't stand out. It's like the New Super Mario Bros. games, but with Yoshi's Island. The thing that still makes it a really good game, however, is that it's still Yoshi's Island.
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