Kirby Star Allies — Cute and Simple
Kirby Star Allies is the cutesy, easy-going game I didn’t know I needed. Like all games in the franchise, it is easy. Like baby’s first game easy. And that’s okay. That’s about what I expected. It takes what we love and simply adds more.
The game greets you with a menu screen not unlike that of 2014’s Super Smash Bros., offering you a story mode, and various other mini-games. The mini-games themselves are short and sweet, and offer a little extra fun outside of the main game. There’s not much to say about these. They’re fun and you’ll enjoy chopping down trees and even hitting meteors away from the planet with a baseball bat.
A brief aside about the main menu: Two weeks ago, Super Smash Bros. for the Nintendo Switch was announced and we were given a teaser trailer and a release window of sometime this year. After seeing this, and playing Kirby Star Allies, I can’t help but wonder what we’ll see in the new Smash that has been tested out in this game. Because surely Sakurai has tested out somethings to use in the new Smash in Kirby Star Allies.
Silly musings, sure. But it’s fun to think about while playing.
After the opening cutscene for the story, you are presented with a bright and colorful overworld for Dreamland, where you will end up between each level. Each level, upon walking up to it, shows you a preview card that has blank silhouettes in the shape of a puzzle piece, or a button. Not all levels will have both, or either. Some levels will only have a hidden puzzle piece to collect. Some will only have a button. Some will have both. Once you have collected the secret item on the level, and return to the overworld, the card will have a golden heart in the top left corner, indicating that you have collected everything in that level.
Speaking of collectibles (because this is a Nintendo game), Kirby Star Allies has you collecting puzzle pieces in each world to complete random pieces of art. I’ve only completed one thus far. It’s just something else to do when playing, but there’s no benefit beyond that, at least as far as I can tell.
Puzzles in the game that are very, very simple. Again, this is most definitely a game targeted at children. The puzzles pretty much only require you to use a specific power or power combo on them to solve, and then you’ll uncover whatever treasures lie in wait.
The story I won’t spoil, but I will also say that it really doesn’t make or break the game. It doesn’t matter one way or the other, which is okay. I don’t imagine anyone is buying this game, whose protagonist is a puffy pink thing, and expecting an Earth-shattering story. The purpose here is to just have fun, and Kirby Star Allies has that in generous amounts.
A feature you learn from the beginning involves pressing X to have Kirby summon a big pink heart and throw it at a nearby enemy to “befriend” them. And by “befriend”, I mean make them pawns to do his bidding. Kirby definitely isn’t an evil alien who brain-washes entire planets of creatures or eats them if they fight back. Why would you suggest such a thing? Geez.
Anyway, when you do this, it allows for multiplayer opportunities. So, if you have a friend sitting by you, they can hop onto your other Joy-Con and play whatever friend you have as your second party member, and so on, up to four players. As Kirby, you control how fast your group progresses (or not). With the exception of passing through doors, as anyone near one can press up on the joystick to push the party into the next area. Outside of that, if anyone wanders too far away, or falls too far behind, they will be warped to Kirby.
Friend Abilities are a new and welcome addition to the game. These abilities involve either combining your powers to create a more powerful attack or weapon, or somehow turning your party into a makeshift vehicle of some sort to traverse an obstacle.
We’ll be talking about the latter first.
My favorite of these abilities is something I wasn’t expecting at all. Partway through the third area, you arrive at a platform requiring four characters to stand on (these always indicate that you’ll be using a Friend Ability). Upon utilizing this particular platform, you become a hysterical speeding train.
I was playing with my girlfriend when we encountered this and we couldn’t stop laughing. It’s just cute and outrageous.
Other Friend Abilities that have your party form into other shapes include forming a “Friend Bridge”, “Friend Circle”, and finally, a “Friend Star” (where you ride on Kirby’s iconic star vehicle and proceed to have airborne battles and such). They’re all pretty fantastic. I only wish there were more instances of them in the game!
Next up are another kind of Friend Ability that allows you to combine powers. There are like a billion of them. Not really, but it seems like it. These allow you to take fire, let’s say, and add it to a sword, or another weapon, thus creating a “Sizzle” weapon. If you add water to something you’ll get a “Splash” weapon. Lightning produces a “Zap” thing, and wind a “Bluster” thing, and so on. Some enemies have weaknesses that are explained through little bubbles that appear in areas when they’re introduced, explaining what powers to combine or use to take out said enemy.
This is the first Kirby game I have played in years. Like, the last Kirby game I played prior to this was Kirby’s Epic Yarn. It was cute and even easier than this game. Again, not targeted at people my age. But whatever. I think what we need to take away from this game and its ilk is that not everything needs to be difficult all the time. Not everything needs to reinvent the wheel. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” as they say.
If you (like some big gaming blogs out there) think that criticizing this game based on difficulty is the way to go… man, what a sad time it must be for you, criticizing a children’s game.
Again, I don’t do reviews here. I just think it’s outright silly to criticize a game that is clearly for kids and meant to be a pure and enjoyable gameplay experience.
Kirby Star Allies, with its pastel perfect world, and cuddly cute creatures makes a great game on its own, and I recommend it to everyone. Whether you’re an old fan or new, or just looking to pick up something new to enjoy, definitely give this a chance.
