When I look back at Yoshi's New Island, I see more and more faults with that game. While I found it to be decent at the time, it just didn’t leave a lasting impression. Good-Feel, the creators of Wario Land: Shake It and Kirby's Epic Yarn, have been hard at work trying to make me care about Yoshi all over again in the first few worlds of Yoshi’s Woolly World. Considering Yoshi's games have really had some big low points, you could consider it the biggest test of the developer's platforming craft. After playing the initial four worlds of Yoshi's Woolly World, I must say that I am honestly impressed with how the title is coming together.

The story of Yoshi's Woolly World is not very deep, but it does the trick. It takes place on Craft Island, which is a small island in the Handmade Ocean. A clan of Yoshi live peacefully here and enjoy each other's company to the end of time. Their peace comes abruptly to an end as Kamek shows up and turns most of the dinosaurs into various sets of yarn. Two of the wily Yoshi manage to escape and pursue the trickster with all their might. As Kamek finally manages to escape, he drops yarn everywhere and the Yoshis go in at once to save their friends!

If you ever played a Yoshi's Island game before, the way the game plays will be familiar to you. You move Yoshi about a 2D platforming landscape, deal with a variety of obstacles and enemies and try to snatch a large number of collectibles throughout. While the basics may have not changed, the way things are implemented combines the best bits of the various Yoshi outings. The big thing is that there is no Baby Mario on your back and the game goes for a traditional health bar, represented in hearts around Yoshi. It relieves the stress somewhat as you can focus on the platforming and what lies ahead.

The known eggs are gone and cast aside for special Yarn balls, which creates opportunities for brand new tricks. You can reveal secret platforms and pipes for example, which will bring you to hidden locations and brand new heights. The fifth level in the game, named Knitty-Knotty Windmill Hill, really brings this thought to fruition as you make many platforms appear so you can get further in the course. Seeing those blades in various colors is also absolutely adorable, which makes this course quite a pleasant one. Naturally, you will still be able to attack and destroy question bubbles with the yarn balls, which still play a major role in Yoshi's Woolly World.

The yarn balls aren't the only way the game throws yarn-related surprises your way. Everywhere you look, you will see bows in the environments, which you can pull with Yoshi's tongue. It might not be always easy to spot them, but you can find some pretty cool secrets if you do. Finally, there are places where you can simply walk into, even it seems like that you can't. This is something that has been present in most of the Yoshi platformers, but I found myself really looking around for these spots. There is always a clue somewhere for you to spot, but it isn't as overly obvious as before.

Personally, I like that I have work for my completion status and a big slew of collectibles. The game offers a ton of them, which makes surprises quite frequent. The known five Smiley Flowers make a return to this game and they bring the same antics as before. If you hit one at the stage's end roulette wheel, a bonus challenge will await you. You will collect fruit in various ways and put your platforming reflexes to the test. The points that you earn are changed into beads and added to a specific counter.

The beads, similar to Kirby's Epic Yarn, are everywhere in the courses. These shinies aren't just for show though, as they are used as currency for Power Badges. These badges will grant you special powers for one single course and you can only use one at once. As you progress through the game, more and more will become available to you. These abilities help you to 100% older courses later on. Your options include letting Poochy the dog play alongside of you, pulling items in with a magnetic force, seeing hidden items, making your Ground Pound move stronger, or becoming a faster runner. There are a good selection to choose from and you can activate them whenever you like. You can even change your ability mid-stage if need be.

20 of the beads in every stage contain Stamp Patches. By reaching certain thresholds, you will unlock some Miiverse stamps that you can use while posting about the game. This is not tied to the stages in the grand scheme of things, but you will need all 20 to fully complete one. Finally, there are the Wonder Wools, of which there are five in every course. If you manage to snag all five, a Yoshi will be knit back together and become instantly available for you to play with. The mechanics don't change between Yoshis, but you find your favourites soon enough. The ones I personally play the most with are Hot Cocoa Yoshi, Candyfloss Yoshi, and Poochy Yoshi.

Now let us move on by talking about some of the levels that you will encounter. As I told you before, I played through the first four worlds and every one of them has a main theme. You start with a grassy world, move on to the desert, head to a wondrous playground, and then finish in a deep jungle. That may not sound encouraging to you, but you honestly shouldn't worry one bit. The levels don't always follow the theme and all of them are interestingly designed to say the least. Take the second level for instance, which is called Bounceabout Woods. All the trees in the stage are bouncepads that you will use to reach collectibles and jump in quick succession. Another early concept sees you at the Crawdaddy Beach, where you use the water to let the yarn balls do water skips.

The concepts just keep coming as the game progresses. While I don't want to highlight all of them here today, I do want to mention the ones that really stood out to me. If you have seen the Super Smash Bros. Wii U stage, you will know that there is a mobile hanging at the top of the screen. This mobile actually comes from the stage “Wobbly Mobile Jaunt,” where you have to climb on quite a number of these. You have to tilt the baby toys a certain way to climb higher and find the objects you need to succeed. Another cool stage is “Scarf-Roll Scamper,” where you have to hang tight on fabric rolls to move about. You will not be able to use your yarn balls, so using the enemies around you to destroy bubbles is key to victory. My absolute favorite course was “Spooky Scraps! Don't Get Spooked.” In this stage, platforms only appear when you are behind a curtain. Behind that curtain though, the enemies can't be defeated and you have to use your wits to outsmart them. This course can really trick you into making wrong moves, so being patient is important in this one.

Next to all of the regular levels bits, there are also transformations and bosses for you to endure. The transformations here outdo the ones in any other Yoshi game and these timed challenges are great ways to break up the gameplay. Our cuddly dino friend will change into a motorcycle for example, which becomes an endless runner with pretty tight controls. Another sees Yoshi becoming a mermaid and pressing a button will allow him to do a special spin attack. Some other prime examples include a plane, umbrella, digging device, and growing massively in size. While I don't want to talk about the bosses too much, they do follow the basic three-hit structure with ever-growing phases. It is a proven concept and the bosses are actually really fun, but they are over before you know it.

As far as the difficulty curve of Yoshi's Woolly World is concerned, there is a real sense of progression there. The stages become more difficult with every world passed and I am not afraid to admit that I died multiple times on a few stages. Luckily, the game is not too frustrating. There are frequent checkpoints and you are sent back to the last one once you fail. I never really touched Mellow Mode, mostly because I wanted the accomplishment to be completely mine.

The controls are wonderful, regardless of which controller you pick. You can use the Wii Remote, the Wii Classic Controller (Pro), the Wii U Pro Controller or the Wii U GamePad. There is, however, one huge benefit when you play the game with just the Remote. This is not about it being a 2D game and that D-Pad controls are the way to go, but there is something here that will be hugely beneficial to most. While the yarn cursor moves around on the other controllers, you will be able to use the tilt in the Wii Remote to steer the yarn ball yourself. This feels absolutely incredible and after a few levels, I couldn't see myself playing it any other way. I had a few tries on the Wii U GamePad, but it didn't feel the same to me. This is handy when you play it co-op, as both players can each have the same proper tools at hand.

Yoshi's Woolly World looks simply stunning on the Wii U. Even when you look at the overworld, there is sense of detail there that is not found in every Wii U game. The stages and characters really show that they are made out of craft and it looks even better than Kirby's Epic Yarn. The backgrounds are sometimes curtains or the clouds are hanging with a string from the ceiling. Every aspect of it was really well thought through and Good-Feel tells the world once again how they perfected this craft of making games look like crafts. The game is bright, colorful, and overly atmospheric, which should please most players out there. The music doesn't play second fiddle and there are some terrific songs in there. They don't feel like Yoshi music most of the time, but come closer to what Kirby's Epic Yarn did before. Can't say that I really mind that!

Yoshi's Woolly World made me walk away impressed. There are some small things that I would have liked differently, but they are very minor to be honest. I do suggest playing this one with a Wii Remote though, as the game seems to be built around it. Combine those fantastic controls with the numerous unique concepts in the stages, the fun transformations, and a style that just instantly clicks, and you have a game that I just want to keep playing. Also, Hot Cocoa Yoshi. Very important.