The premise is to guide Yoshi through a series of small 2D platform-style levels, collecting animals and coins on the way. Both Yoshi and the world itself can be manipulated, via the D-pad and tilting the Game Boy respectively. Tilting will enable Yoshi to climb vertical walls, move onto a different path, roll objects along for him to jump on and generally make things swing about to aid collecting the hard-to-reach coins. Which all sounds like a great idea right? Yoshi games are fairly bonkers to start with, so adding this extra dimension should liven things up even more.

It takes a while to get used to which way to tilt, before it becomes second nature. The tilt is analogue, so a small tilt will affect the world only slightly, so this part all works well. The problem that becomes apparent once a few levels have been cleared is that there are only a few types of puzzle and they don’t take long to figure out, so once you’ve tried a few, there’s little incentive to keep going, because they aren’t particularly exciting. The levels are small to a point whereby they are no longer a platformer and should actually be viewed as a puzzle game. In some cases they only take a few seconds to complete, and whilst there are rewards of graded medals to be had, after a while the tedium of swinging on yet another ball and chain or boat on a stick sets in hard.

Annoyingly the game looks promising, with solid graphics and interesting-looking story characters (as well as the familiar Yoshi) lulling the player into a false sense of security. First thoughts are along the lines of “this is going to be really cool once we get on to the proper game”. Given the tilt technology, you could be forgiven for thinking that the first few levels are tutorial-style introductions, hinting at full-blown platformer action levels to come, but don’t be fooled. They don’t improve or get any more varied or longer or harder or more interesting.

If a few coins are missed or the requisite number of animals not found for any given level, there’s a chance the next level might not be unlocked, but this won’t bother anyone that often due to the easy “difficulty” level. When it does happen, rather than wanting to have another go to nail it, instead there will be an urge just to turn it off and begrudgingly do something else, because hey, it’s Yoshi and Yoshi deserves better.

So by now, you’ve probably got the message. It’s an interesting idea that’s too easy and too repetitive. It does little apart from provide a vessel to show off the technology inappropriately. Wario Twisted dispensed with the button controls (in the main) with a game designed around the technology. If only Yoshi could have been graced with the same thought and real innovation to shine, but alas he’s been short changed.