Kirby: Star Allies
Summary:
Kirby: Star Allies follows the titular character on his new adventure. In this story, a sinister force tries to awaken a god, releasing it from its shackles. Its prison in the shape of a heart shatters and sends its shards to Dream Land. There, the purple hearts begin infecting the minds of friend and foe alike, turning them evil. However, all hope is not lost. Kirby absorbs a heart shard that sealed the evil Jamba heart, which allows him to reverse the effects and make new friends. With his new allies, Kirby begins his journey to save Dream Land.
Characters:
Kirby: Star Allies follows our titular character on his journey. Kirby is a kind-hearted being who wishes to be friends with everyone that crosses his path. Along his journey, Kirby befriends various characters, such as King Dedede and Meta Knight. These characters are typical Kirby villains, but in this game, these characters join Kirby on his journey. Besides these characters, Kirby also journeys with characters from previous titles as well.
Review:
Kirby: Star Allies was a fun game. For those familiar with the series, it has everything you want: fun levels, strong powerups, simple controls, cute characters. So, without further ado, let’s dive into this.
So some quick downsides of the game. It’s a shorter game, with a simple plot, with side modes. To some, this won’t be enough to satisfy or justify getting the game. For reference, I played and beat the story mode in around six hours. Now, the side modes still bring lots of enjoyment, but the main story doesn’t hold all that much. Besides the story, the controls are relatively simple. As this game is more targeted towards children, it makes sense that the controls are simple. For older players, this might not be an aspect that you would not enjoy.
Now, onto the positives. This game has that classic Kirby feel. Sure, it might feel simple at times, but the new friend system adds an extra level to combat and exploration. It’s simple to learn, hard to master. Besides that, the side modes are still pretty fun. The minigames are simple if you want to relax. But the true beauty of the game comes from The Ultimate Choice, Heroes From Another Dimension, or Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go. The Ultimate Choice is a gauntlet style battle where you can square off against all the bosses of the game. With an adjustable difficulty, it’s great for those who aren’t trying new characters or for those looking for a challenge. Another challenging mode is Heroes From Another Dimension. This mode has four compact worlds to collect hearts, fight stronger bosses, and a difficult final battle. This mode was a fun way to test skills. The final other mode that’s pretty fun is the Guest Stars mode, where you get to play as a friend for a condensed story mode. This is fun for single players who didn’t have the opportunity to play as those characters during the main game.Overall, this was still a fun Kirby game. The story mode gets surprisingly dark, the music is pretty catchy, and the side modes bring a lot of fun. For those who have always been interested in Kirby, this is one that I recommend trying.
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
My favourite moment in Kirby: Star Allies is The Ultimate Choice game mode. I’ve always loved the Arena modes in Kirby, so this one was no exception. Now, this mode was more fun this time around due to the characters you could play as. With so many more options, and the ability to play with friends, this mode is quite fun.
Review:
In terms of Switch games, this one doesn’t rank at the top of any list. Kirby Star Allies is a decent game filled with some classic characters. The new villains and different storylines do add to the plot, but it is still the same Kirby.
The attacking dynamics of this game are pretty darn basic, with a whole bunch of button mashing. This is one of the simpler games I’ve played in a while, and it’s this simplicity that adds to the lack of difficulty outside of a few boss battles. The simplicity does make it a fun game to play with others, up to four players.
The simplicity of the controls carries over to the storyline, but it was nice to see some improvements on this front. The beginning is the same classic Kirby storyline, but it morphs into something completely different, and I was impressed with the length. For a game that is fairly easy to beat, 7 hours was more than I was expecting. The addition of those new villains was huge, and the final boss battles were really great. It’s the first time, all game, that we get away from the basic button-mashing controls, and move into a battle that requires at least a little bit of skill and thought.
The ability to play with some absolute units was awesome. Having Meta Knight on your team made every level a lot simpler and, as someone who played as Meta Knight in the original Super Smash Bros., it was really cool to see him in action.
Now, let’s get into the mini-modes. The 4 main mini-games are really solid. Guest Star is a fun mode that allows you to try and go through as many levels as possible without dying, and I found it to be a fun way to play some more without playing through the campaign again. Probably my favorite mini-game, The Ultimate Choice. This is your classic boss fight after boss fight. You pick your difficulty and try to get through that many boss fights with just some food and some allies. It is the most difficult but the most difficult to take a shot at. Star Slam Heroes and Chop Champs are actually mini-games of different varieties. They are both fun, but simple, almost a Super Mario Party vibe to them. Enjoyable all around, but not something that will bring you back to Kirby.
Overall, the main story mode is decent but predictably if you are familiar with Kirby. If this is your first Kirby game, it’s going to be a blast. The game is pretty easy to pick up, and it’s the perfect game if you are looking to just relax and cruise through some levels. If you are looking for strong storylines or complex levels and controls, I’d check out Super Mario Odyssey.
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
Review:
With this being my first time playing a Kirby game I did not know what to expect when I played it but I can say I was pleasantly surprised as I enjoyed my experience. To start off I loved the game mechanics as it was mostly button mashing which is my specialty. The gameplay was quite simple from using the fighting mechanics and Kirby’s abilities it was quite easy to pick up on. Kirby’s ability to steal others’ abilities was something I was aware of from the Smash Bros games but seeing it in his solo title was quite entertaining and how the use of these powers varied in importance. The fast-paced nature of the game also made me really enjoy it as it felt like the game kept you on your toes and the action came quickly. I enjoyed the 2D platformer as a fan of the Super Mario Bros games so I was used to that aspect of the game. The worlds were quite colourful and unique and even the map that took you from world to world was whimsical. I will also say I enjoyed the element of having a multiplayer capability with three people helping you out. I only played the game solo but I do remember thinking that it would be fun to play with more people. The story itself I remember being darker than expected for such a bright and colourful game and it was definitely more violent than I thought Kirby could be. The music was quite catchy and upbeat as well but that is something I have found with all Nintendo games. Sadly, I was unable to play the side modes due to time constraints but my colleagues do have some information about them in their reviews.
All in all, this was a fun game with some interesting worlds, a memorable protagonist, and easy game mechanics that make me recommend this game to anyone.
Favourite Moment (Spoilers):
Now I don’t have a specific moment that is my favourite but I do remember the first time I started playing I loved the fast pace and the action.
