One of the newest upcoming releases for the Switch is Kirby Star Allies, set to officially release on March 16th, 2018. For anyone that’s ever loved Kirby and his super abilities, there is even more to get in to in this game. Now set in a new world, Kirby can be controlled by three players for co-op platforming action. The game doesn’t stop there, it has more puzzles too.
HAL Labs has consistently puts out varying Kirby games but it appears that this one is slightly different. Now, Kirby can have up to three friends join him on his quest. Each player has a different ability that aids Kirby on his quest. For anyone playing alone, Kirby can use a new mechanic to friend an enemy. Kirby simply throws a heart at any enemy and he gains that specific ability. For example, Kirby can friend an enemy with the fire ability and suddenly Kirby has fire. So far, the biggest known abilities are fire, ice and sword, but the list of abilities grows as the army goes on. A benefit of friending enemies is having the ability to create special moves for the various puzzles. Each level presents puzzles that each character will need to help with, but in some cases, Kirby will need to call on his friends for a new formation such as the “Friend Star” in order to keep going.
Mechanically the game functions well. Kirby Star Allies is a platformer that has side-on perspective. which seem to make the controles easy. For anyone that toggles between playing other consoles and the Switch, the controls can be a bit tricky. We all expect the X button to be in the same place, am I right? Once the game gets started everything falls in to place and jumping eating and fighting all become second nature.
Graphically, Kirby Star Allies is fun to look at. The colors are bold and bright, the movements are very crisp. The cuts scenes themselves are filled with color and are just plain fun, even if they do show up more than expected. Playing this game is a lot like playing Donkey Kong Country or even Super Mario World, just in a graphically clearer space.
My downsides to this game are pretty straight forward. I simply expected a little bit more of a challenge to the levels. Playing through was very fast and simple. The puzzles were simple to me. This doesn’t change how much fun I have bashing enemies and jumping around for any secrets that may be hidden, I was just expecting a slower journey and a story. As fun as it is to have friend join me in the game, I was also questioning why I needed the hassle. Friends are fun for sure, but I feel like Kirby could manage all of these challenges on his own and still be in a great game. Something just seems off with the new addition of co-op play.
Overall, I will continue to play this game because the simplicity doesn’t make the game bad, just faster that I expected. I also really enjoy the look of this game. The big puffball called Kirby has a nice introduction to the new generation of Nintendo consoles.
Kirby Star Allies will be available on March 16 for the Nintendo Switch.
