Review for Yoku's Island Express. Game for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 29/05/2018
Yoku's Island Express it's the classic game you don't expect. At first it has all the air of being a light, colorful title, also suitable for very young users. After all, we are called to interpret a small and very tender red beetle, on his first day as head postman on the colorful island of Mokumana. That's all? Not exactly.
First of all it must be said that the little beetle Yoku and all the other characters that populate this crazy and hilarious title - published by a real milestone in the world of video games, the Team 17 - they are adorable and very nice from the first moment. Presented with clean, detailed and extremely atmospheric graphics, both the characters and the various environments that we will be called to explore immediately communicate a sense of playful good humor, a pleasant feeling that will accompany us throughout the game.
Sbasically, at least on the very first bars, Yoku's Island Express looks like a kind of platfom / metroidvania where, at the command of our fearless protagonist, we will have to push our inseparable ball (of which material it is not good to know, let's not forget that we play a young beetle ... dung!) far and wide for the levels, trying to complete simple main tasks and equally simple secondary missions and, even if there is still some time left, deliver the respective missives to all the funny inhabitants of the island. So far, nothing strange or innovative. Yoku's Island Express looks like a very nice title but nothing more, as we can find so many on the market. Shortly after the start, however, the real revelation arrives.
We immediately realize that among the various movements that we can make little Yoku make, always and in any case connected to the movement of his ball, an option to jump is completely missing. In a game that at first glance, it seems like a platformer, it leaves quite a bit perplexing ... The mystery is revealed, however, in the blink of an eye, since we will soon discover that Yoku's Island Express is a "platform / metroidvania" much of its mechanics are based on an old, and glorious, entertainment system: the pinball machine! In fact, to overcome many parts of the levels that we will be called to cross, we will have to face real pinball games, complete with buffers and multipliers of all kinds where, not a small detail, we will be the ball.
Said this way it may understandably seem like a rather strange gameplay choice, but we can assure you that these mechanics manage to marry perfectly, giving Yoku's Island Express a fast-paced and fun gameplay, never frustrating and, above all, that pushes the player to always keep going for discover new flippering paths.
Often, however, during our adventure, we will also have to face robust doses of backtracking, mainly to bring a certain object to a specific character or to reach some previously inaccessible area. During this retrace our steps, especially in some passages, we will have to face again some pinball sections, always very fast and adrenaline but which, once stripped of all objects and points obtainable, certainly no longer have the same charm as the first attempts. In the long run, even without getting frustrating, these backtracking sessions tend to get a little boring.
Alternating exploration phases and pinball phases, we will slowly discover the whole crazy island of Mokumana and its craziest inhabitants. As we have already said above, both the environments and these nice characters that populate them are characterized in a masterly way. In some places it almost seems to be in front of characters and creatures out of some Hayao Miyazaki film.
Technically speaking, Yoku's Island Express is a game that does its job perfectly, with absolutely more than decent graphics and sound, with no slowdowns or bugs whatsoever.
Yoku's Island Express is a simple game, which can be completed in a few hours, without too many pretensions, but which still manages to keep the player glued to the screen until the end. The alternation of the two main types of action, exploration and pinball, go hand in hand flawlessly, making every game of Yoku's Island Express a light but fully satisfying experience. A title recommended also, but definitely not only, for children.
► Yoku's Island Express is an Arcade-Adventure-Indie-Platform game published by Team 17 for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 29/05/2018
