Yoshi's New Island (Hands-On) (Nintendo 3DS) Preview

Initial trailers and screenshots of Yoshi's New Island have looked a little rough, leaving many to assume the game is only very early on in development, or that it simply looks much better in the palms of players' hands. Thankfully, what can be said about the actual graphical art style when the game is in front of the eyes is that it looks very good. The pastel shading and water colour designs used in the flower garden and forest stages of the demo are typical Yoshi's Island, and fit perfectly to the standards set by many previousYoshi games that have always strived to deliver unique graphics. It's the actual Yoshi and other character models that stand out as not as impressive as the environments around them, appearing a little jaggy. Hopefully this is something that will be patched up before release. The 3D effect does what is expected of it, delivering some depth to the varying background and foreground planes, without taking the focus away from the level of field which Yoshi is on.

This particular playable demo featured three stages, which all transitioned straight into the next upon finishing them. Due to the fact there were no goal rings to jump through, and that each level was pretty short by previous game standards, it's very likely that Yoshi's New Island is certainly not far into development. This is probably a good thing, since there really wasn't a lot to get excited about after coming away from playing the demo.

It's all very familiar for those that have played previous games, with Yoshi's trademark moves all returning, including the Flutter Jump, Ground Pound and Egg Throw; and the core gameplay element that of trying not to get hit by enemies, else see Baby Mario floating off of Yoshi's back in a bubble, endure his wretched crying noises, and then need to catch him before a timer expires. The only real new idea that's been shown off is a giant egg item, which can be launched across the stage to smash down pipes and other obstacles, whilst also collecting coins it happens to bump into. Prior to picking up the oversized egg, it's possible for Yoshi to hit a block which allows players to scan the vicinity of the stage at a zoomed out perspective using the Nintendo 3DS gyroscope. This gives a good indication of exactly which direction to throw the giant egg in order to knock down as much as possible, and gain a few extra lives in the process.

After traversing the flower garden area, the forest stage stands out as being very lovely looking, with the aforementioned water colouring prominent. The final section is that of a cave - again very much identical to the underground themes of the previous Yoshi's Island games. With many bouncy balls that launch Yoshi to higher platforms, Fang bat enemies and spinning maces that block the way to collectible flowers and red coins, it's clear that developer Arzest is staying true to the previous entries in many regards.

To tie up the demo, Kamek appears to sprinkle a bit of his magic onto a foe, to turn it into a giant Fang boss. With just three accurate egg throws, it's bye-bye Mr Boss, who barely managed to lay a hit on Yoshi as it flew and bounced around the enclosed room. Hopefully the three hits needed to fell it are not an indication of the final game bosses, since it was over in about 20 seconds or so.

Perhaps the most pleasing aspect to take away is that the dual screen approach used in Yoshi's Island DS has been scrapped in place of the action only taking place on the top screen. The bottom screen acts as a very handy reference to how many collectibles have been found in the current stage.