I have had Yoshi’s Woolly World since launch and have been incredibly eager to play it. The most exciting thing about Yoshi is that I could co-op with Martin. Finally we had time to start playing it today. The game itself reminds me of Kirby’s Epic Yarn. It plays incredibly similar – from gimmicks such as bike riding and super sized Yoshi’s to the awkward co-op controls. Oh, the controls! We found ourselves attacking each other more than the actual target. It always seemed like we were in the way just at the wrong time. So many times we accidentally threw each other off of the ledge. This became a game and when one of us failed at something, the other would throw us away.

Even though I have a varied selection of Amiibo, Yoshi’s Woolly World is the first game that I have ever used them for. I unpackaged them and added them to the game for a wider selection of skins. I’m currently rocking a Pink Yoshi while Martin is the Yoshimelon. The other benefit is that when you tap the Amiibo to the GamePad you unlock ‘Double Yoshi’ which lets you control two Yoshi’s in single player mode. This doesn’t mean anything to me as I’m already playing co-op, however I can see the benefit of having two to control. In so many situations already we have relied on turning each other into a yarn ball to get through a certain area. Only having one Yoshi to play with would be a bit of an annoyance.

World One was a nice lead in to the game and here is a short summary of the worlds contained within..

1.1 Yarn Yoshi Takes Shape!

It didn’t take long in the first level to understand most of the controls for the game. If you couldn’t damage your own partner, it would be a lot better. The level starts out simple like all of the other previous Yoshi games. You find out that you throw Yarn balls instead of eggs. It is also the level where you realise the sound Yoshi makes sound suspiciously like the world ‘bum’.

1.2 Bounceabout Woods

This is the level that originally gave me the Kirby vibe. Breezing through the level as an umbrella reminded me of Parasol. This level also reinforced the fact that I am incredibly poor at timing and can never time my jump with the moving bouncy platform. I never get enough height!

1.3 Sponge Cave Spelunking

Spelunking? Spelunky? This level is the first level that contains some weird sort of sponge rock. Incredibly frustrating if you are a tad trigger happy and peg yarn at it all, destroying your pathway to secret ledges. We had to restart this level because we did exactly that. I told myself that I wasn’t going to worry about 100% completion. I meant it! Though when I miss something so obvious, I have to go back and fix it.

1.4 Big Montgomery’s Fort

Sub boss level. The game just got real. You verse Big Montgomery here and he is really simple. Basically we found that you just need to jump on his head as it exposes a weak spot on his bum. I think this game is obsessed with bums? Once you hit him there he will throw some spiky ball. You can easily dodge that and repeat the process to defeat him.

1.5 Knitty-Knotty Windmill Hill

More dangerous windmills than the infamous ICO windmill. Impatience is your enemy here. I just wanted to cross the multiple windmills before we made them become solid. Probably not the best plan as I fell to my death more than once. I feel like if the game actually penalised death in a meaningful way,I would be more careful. However it just doesn’t. Your co-op partner can just revive you and off you go!

1.6 Shy But Deadly

Another level with an amazing gimmick in it. You become huge and get to destroy things like they are nothing. Seriously, you just go all Godzilla on those worlds. You have a short time limit to get through the bonus stage. This isn’t so bad as you collect bonus time on the way.

1.7 Clawdaddy Beach

You can’t shoot yarn in water. Of course you can’t. Once we figured that out, it seemed really obvious! It would become waterlogged. This doesn’t really impact on the difficulty of the level at all. You just need to think of more creative ways for the yarn ball to get to the target. It also helps that the ball skids across the water like you are the world champion stone skipper.

1.8 Burt the Bashful’s Castle

Burt the Bashful tries to have a swing at you in the level. He really just needs to be driven home and put to bed. He’s easy to beat. You can stun him by throwing yarn at him and then hit him. Afterwards he multiplies and you have to shoot all of the duplicates to get back to the original and you just repeat the process again,. Simple!

After completing Yoshi’s Woolly Yarn I can definitely say it is exactly what I expected it to be. Simple yet charming and more fun played with someone else. I am happy to do a world at a time and then leave it for a day or two. I definitely think I would get bored if I played it for too long. That isn’t to say I don’t enjoy it as I do! I just find it a lot more entertaining in shorter bursts.