Woodle Tree Adventures from Fabio Ferrara and Chubby Pixel is a 3D platformer that takes place in a natural and soft yet rather angular world. You are the offspring of a giant mustache-toting square tree who tasks you with collecting fairy tears to quench the thirst of the increasingly demanding world you inhabit. With a rucksack on your back for storage and a magic leaf to defend yourself, our cute little tree stump hero ventures across eight levels (increased from the original six), swatting enemies, jumping around and collecting berries as you go.
The mandatory objective in each themed world is to collect three magical fairy tears to progress, which then unlock new worlds to explore. There's also a secondary task, which is to collect berries to gain access to three projectile-based power upgrades for your leaf attacks. Thing is, even with the extra worlds and the upgrades, your completion time probably won't go over two hours. While it's easy on the eye with its cute and charming animation, the overall experience lacks impact and detail.
Aside from the opening monologue, there are no names for the worlds and no indication within the level as to how many berries you've collected. Aside from the fact there are no bosses or extra tasks that deviate from the platforming, there is very little kinetic energy or effects to give the worlds life. As well as being relatively linear and not overly vast or complex, these levels are generic in terms of themes, offer little variety in the structure of the landscape and boasts few landmarks or points of interest.
There are some water jets that propel Woodle upward and platforms that present more complex shapes in the later stages, but for the most part, the range of textures, depth in colour palette and lighting are quite limited. In terms of audio, woodland animal sounds, occasional sound effects for collecting berries, hitting enemies and Woodle jumping are accompanied by a sometimes ambient but other times oddly jarring piano-based soundtrack.
While the game is enjoyable to a degree, there are a few design and mechanical issues that, while not game breaking, certainly restrict the freedom of exploration and detract from your enjoyment. First of all, there's issues with the camera. You're only able to zoom the it in and out, which severely interrupts traversing the static platforms. There are even some instances where the camera won't budge and you find yourself hidden, so blind trial and error are constantly necessary. When the camera is autonomous, it's sporadic to the point that it zooms in to the extreme, making your platforming duties even more frustrating.
Despite boasting improvements on previous versions, Woodle's general movement and traversal of the levels just don't feel anywhere near as tight or as varied as its competitors. Although by default, Woodle walks at an awkward and leisurely pace, there is a sprint button rather than analogue control to increase his speed. While there isn't much in the way of obstacles, only Woodle himself has a shadow which makes gauging distance to gather berries or jumping across high platforms barely tolerable.
The whole experience doesn't feel very tactile, and enemies dotted around the worlds don't have much in the way of attack patterns or are even distinguishable as enemies in the first world, and the game even directly addresses this early on in dialogue. Thankfully, foes pose more of a threat later, but the sparse nature of interaction combined with inconsistent collision detection is progressively disappointing.
Conclusion
Even with extra content and performance enhancements, a frustratingly limited camera and lack of variety reduce Woodle to a cheap and cheerful but flawed and basic 3D jump and collect-athon. While its cute and whimsical charm and uncomplicated nature make it suitable and accessible to younger audiences, there are still plenty of contemporaries on the eShop that are more accomplished and polished. While adequate considering its price, it's nonetheless an idyllic yet simple little game.
Comments 19
how can this review not mention mario 3d land? the first level of this game is an almost 1:1 copy of the first level of 3d land. i would almost call it a copyright infringement. maybe they copied even more levels..don't know, only saw the first one.
Love the art style. Just wish the game itself was better.
Looks cute. Shame the animation looks so wooden. I'll probably leaf this alone.
@SomeWriter13 I can’t beleaf you’re treeting us this way with your bad puns. 😉
@manu0 lol!!! I was thinking the same thing. No mention at all. It’s a straight up rip.
@SimplyCinnamon53 My apologies! Once I Saw the title, it Kindled my vicious side. But never fear, I wood never lash out. I'm all bark.
Yeah, it does look a bit underwhelming. For $5, I might try it down the line when I finish up my current backlog. But I still want to 100% Super Mario Odyssey (currently sitting at a bit over 500 moons), beat Yooka-Laylee, and buy A Hat in Time.
@manu0 I immediately thought the exact same thing. Everything about the geometry is near identical. The only thing missing is a Tanooki suit!
@SomeWriter13 Oh my gosh I give up! Your puns are too good!
I'd give the game a solid 7/10!
It's got a super cute art style, fun platforming mechanics, lots of cool stuff to collect and it's overall just a really fun experience!
The camera is a bit of a downside, the ability to move it up, down, left and right instead of a zoom would be nice, and in some cases, although pretty rare, the framerate drops below the 60fps target.
Also, I don't know what people are talking about! It may have been inspired by 3D Land, but the layout of the first level in Woodle Tree is very different to World 1-1 in Super Mario 3D Land!
So, Basically that game was a Super Mario 3D Land like games ?
With limited camera angle ?
I love a good 3-D platformer... might give this a run someday
So bad they can barely give it away for free on Steam
To anyone who reads this review, I hope it doesn't discourage you too much, as it's sequel Woodle Tree 2: Worlds is coming to Switch as well and it's a much larger game. You can also push blocks, do puzzles and more. Trailer and gameplay footage can be found on YouTube.
The demand for 3D platformers has pretty much gone away after Mario Odyssey. It will be a while until people want anything new.
I agree with all the above game just about average that is until my nephew played it (his 5) and that was it he loves it thinks he's playing a cartoon and at the end of the day enjoyment is everything for the games we or my nephew want to play
It's actually a good game. My son has been enjoying it. It only cost 4.49 too.
I have seen this game in the past... I have absolutely no idea how anyone can say that this is good. This is trash and nothing else and I severly doubt there has even been a lot of work put into this, as it is really just a parcour to jump around in with bad mechanics.
I'd give it a 3/10 at most.
Although I can see why some small children might like it, because they tend to like stuff that is simple and cartoony.
It's on sale for $1.99 USD on the e shop right now & Woodle Tree 2 Deluxe is on sale for $3 something & even less if you use e shop gold coins like I do to discount my games even more! Sale ends on 8/21/2021. I personally think both games are worth the sale price. 💚✌💚✌💚
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