Yoku's Island Express (PC, 2018)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8 Control-7.5 Challenge-6/7* Story-6.5
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7/7.5* Fun-7.5 Originality-7
Overall Score-7.5
*100%
+
Creative gameplay (pinball/Platform Adventure hybrid (a bit like an expanded version of Sonic Spinball but better) - use bumpers in the environment to move around for the most part (otherwise there's a dung beetle rolling the ball along for basic movement and attacking), hidden paths and items, some backtracking to progress, )
Good art direction overall (some character design is reminiscent of Fury of the Furries or World of Goo)
Unusual premise (you're sent to a mediterranean island to become the new postman, play as a dung beetle)
Pretty nice physics engine
Randomizer mode with three difficulty modes (hardest requires speedrunning techniques)
Some sequence breaking possibilities (getting the leash before returning the sootlings, some skips (including early beeline quest) using slug timeout explosions+noisemaker to shoot yourself into new areas - referred to as the game's rocket jumping (Quake) by the devs, skip at the peak using precise grapple hook swinging)
Reset from checkpoint option
Some interesting traversal abilities (grapple hook via the soot leash which lets you latch onto certain pre-placed flowers and spin around them - kinda similar to some objects in Sonic and Ristar, launching your avatar via the slugs) and level design (multi-ball segments - you basically "fight" alongside NPCs that come under your control for a couple of tables)
Alternate ending (collect all wickerlings)
Interactive fast travel system (similar to the barrels in Sonic 3/DKC and has its own music theme)
Open up shortcuts (could've had a few more leading upwards from near the bottom though)
Some pretty good puzzles (the ball disguises, getting to some chests via the slugs)
+/-
Mostly non-linear structure (can do the peak/northeastern or eastern areas in either order after the first one - can also do the third/southern one after getting the dive ability some ways into the eastern one, need to be able to dive to finish umbaba's statue side quest+can only get the head part last, have to do the mushroom placement side quest in a set order, non-linear underdark dungeon/boss area)
Frequent save points (one slot per game)
Can't die
Collectathon (various key gates that make you collect fruit (money) so you need to be thorough in picking it up - leads to backtracking or repeating shots here and there, key parts for purple doors - minor, optional wickerlings quest - 80 in total and the staffs you use them on are spread out, optional mailbox side quest (not too bad at 30 but leads to backtracking), optional treasure chest map for 300 fruit) - After finding the skvader and fat skvader (early mid-game) fruit grinding is less of an issue
Feelgood vibes (your main weapon besides shooting the ball is a noisemaker, light and chill afro/caribbean music and colorful art style - feels a bit like Lion King mixed with Greendog)
Various automated segments where you're basically bounced along after pressing a button to shoot the ball and bug via a bumper - feels similar to a Sonic game
Non-interactive dialogue and silent protagonist
Can't place manual map markers (the map being a zoomed out version of the in-game view helps but isn't quite enough at times) - can buy a treasure chest map (fairly expensive) and can find area specific wickerling maps
Mostly non-violent
No mid-air control
No difficulty options for the main game
Bizarre final boss music
Quest markers for main quests and side quests (can't turn them off but they don't show the path at least)
-
A few control/interface issues (would've been good to be able to zoom out a bit (not to the map screen) to get a better overview of your surroundings considering the pinball gameplay, somewhat slow/floaty movement at times, no journal/quest log feature, the grapple points could've had either a visual guide or a slightly larger radius)
Starts with a couple of fetch quests and repeats them throughout
Some tedious aspects (various segments where you fall/bounce down or shoot yourself in the wrong direction and have to get back to where you were - sometimes a bit more direct control would've been beneficial to game flow (at least when not in the pinball game segments; especially annoying at the spider boss), having to repeat parts of the pinball segments for key parts/slug gates/collecting fruit, when opening item containers or hitting certain objects in the pinball segments the fruit usually spreads out - breaks flow a bit, some parts don't flow quite as well as they could (a bit more initial acceleration and some bumpers giving more of a boost would've helped), being able to nudge the table or ball at the cost of some fruit (tilt mechanic) would've been preferable for a few tables where getting the ball into the right hole consistently just takes too long - or a slight redesign of the tables, the recurring shaking during the underbelly segment)
Occasionally unclear visuals
Some trial & error (have to stand at the right spot to the left of the bath to return the soots to the rat)
Fruit spawned in the pinball segments disappears after a while
Can't skip save points since you can't jump - can be bad if you took the wrong way and changed your mind. In some spots there aren't shortcuts going back
Wallet upgrades for holding more money/fruit - minor padding+some chests only give fruit which can then be wasted if you had a full wallet
Unskippable bootup logos
The riddle near the fountain pretty much solves itself
Kinda boring underwater segments overall (mostly simplistic collectathon segments and swimming is a bit slow (can be upgraded but only in the late game) since you can only accelerate/boost downwards, only one or two are necessary though)
Overly easy screech boss (in the underdark; at least the theming and multi-ball mechanic are cool) and final boss
Somewhat unfinished looking artwork during cutscenes
Pointless instrument fetch quest near the end
The third phase of the final boss fight lacks urgency and challenge (second one lacks urgency since mokuma can't actually die)
The main ending is kinda lame
Even wallet upgrades bought by NPCs are randomized in that mode
Level Design-7.5 Frustration-7/7.5* Fun-7.5 Originality-7
Overall Score-7.5
*100%
+
Creative gameplay (pinball/Platform Adventure hybrid (a bit like an expanded version of Sonic Spinball but better) - use bumpers in the environment to move around for the most part (otherwise there's a dung beetle rolling the ball along for basic movement and attacking), hidden paths and items, some backtracking to progress, )
Good art direction overall (some character design is reminiscent of Fury of the Furries or World of Goo)
Unusual premise (you're sent to a mediterranean island to become the new postman, play as a dung beetle)
Pretty nice physics engine
Randomizer mode with three difficulty modes (hardest requires speedrunning techniques)
Some sequence breaking possibilities (getting the leash before returning the sootlings, some skips (including early beeline quest) using slug timeout explosions+noisemaker to shoot yourself into new areas - referred to as the game's rocket jumping (Quake) by the devs, skip at the peak using precise grapple hook swinging)
Reset from checkpoint option
Some interesting traversal abilities (grapple hook via the soot leash which lets you latch onto certain pre-placed flowers and spin around them - kinda similar to some objects in Sonic and Ristar, launching your avatar via the slugs) and level design (multi-ball segments - you basically "fight" alongside NPCs that come under your control for a couple of tables)
Alternate ending (collect all wickerlings)
Interactive fast travel system (similar to the barrels in Sonic 3/DKC and has its own music theme)
Open up shortcuts (could've had a few more leading upwards from near the bottom though)
Some pretty good puzzles (the ball disguises, getting to some chests via the slugs)
+/-
Mostly non-linear structure (can do the peak/northeastern or eastern areas in either order after the first one - can also do the third/southern one after getting the dive ability some ways into the eastern one, need to be able to dive to finish umbaba's statue side quest+can only get the head part last, have to do the mushroom placement side quest in a set order, non-linear underdark dungeon/boss area)
Frequent save points (one slot per game)
Can't die
Collectathon (various key gates that make you collect fruit (money) so you need to be thorough in picking it up - leads to backtracking or repeating shots here and there, key parts for purple doors - minor, optional wickerlings quest - 80 in total and the staffs you use them on are spread out, optional mailbox side quest (not too bad at 30 but leads to backtracking), optional treasure chest map for 300 fruit) - After finding the skvader and fat skvader (early mid-game) fruit grinding is less of an issue
Feelgood vibes (your main weapon besides shooting the ball is a noisemaker, light and chill afro/caribbean music and colorful art style - feels a bit like Lion King mixed with Greendog)
Various automated segments where you're basically bounced along after pressing a button to shoot the ball and bug via a bumper - feels similar to a Sonic game
Non-interactive dialogue and silent protagonist
Can't place manual map markers (the map being a zoomed out version of the in-game view helps but isn't quite enough at times) - can buy a treasure chest map (fairly expensive) and can find area specific wickerling maps
Mostly non-violent
No mid-air control
No difficulty options for the main game
Bizarre final boss music
Quest markers for main quests and side quests (can't turn them off but they don't show the path at least)
-
A few control/interface issues (would've been good to be able to zoom out a bit (not to the map screen) to get a better overview of your surroundings considering the pinball gameplay, somewhat slow/floaty movement at times, no journal/quest log feature, the grapple points could've had either a visual guide or a slightly larger radius)
Starts with a couple of fetch quests and repeats them throughout
Some tedious aspects (various segments where you fall/bounce down or shoot yourself in the wrong direction and have to get back to where you were - sometimes a bit more direct control would've been beneficial to game flow (at least when not in the pinball game segments; especially annoying at the spider boss), having to repeat parts of the pinball segments for key parts/slug gates/collecting fruit, when opening item containers or hitting certain objects in the pinball segments the fruit usually spreads out - breaks flow a bit, some parts don't flow quite as well as they could (a bit more initial acceleration and some bumpers giving more of a boost would've helped), being able to nudge the table or ball at the cost of some fruit (tilt mechanic) would've been preferable for a few tables where getting the ball into the right hole consistently just takes too long - or a slight redesign of the tables, the recurring shaking during the underbelly segment)
Occasionally unclear visuals
Some trial & error (have to stand at the right spot to the left of the bath to return the soots to the rat)
Fruit spawned in the pinball segments disappears after a while
Can't skip save points since you can't jump - can be bad if you took the wrong way and changed your mind. In some spots there aren't shortcuts going back
Wallet upgrades for holding more money/fruit - minor padding+some chests only give fruit which can then be wasted if you had a full wallet
Unskippable bootup logos
The riddle near the fountain pretty much solves itself
Kinda boring underwater segments overall (mostly simplistic collectathon segments and swimming is a bit slow (can be upgraded but only in the late game) since you can only accelerate/boost downwards, only one or two are necessary though)
Overly easy screech boss (in the underdark; at least the theming and multi-ball mechanic are cool) and final boss
Somewhat unfinished looking artwork during cutscenes
Pointless instrument fetch quest near the end
The third phase of the final boss fight lacks urgency and challenge (second one lacks urgency since mokuma can't actually die)
The main ending is kinda lame
Even wallet upgrades bought by NPCs are randomized in that mode