June/July Live Magazine 2018

Our favorite gluttonous puff ball is back again, folks,
and this time he’s graced the Nintendo Switch to
further flesh out its library, joining the likes of Mario
and Zelda. It seems like just yesterday we swung
and whipped our way through the charming yarnladen
environments of Kirby’s Epic Yarn, and made
a nostalgic return-trip to Dreamland on Wii, but here
we are again. Question is, does the latest entry in
the series, Kirby Star Allies, measure up to those
titles? Is yet another Kirby platformer warranted
when we seem to have been showered with them of
late? Well, even though I had my doubts going into
my playthrough, I’m pleased to say that the answer
to both of those questions is yes, at least in some
respects.
It’s true the game doesn’t quite reach a level of
innovation that Epic Yarn achieved, nor does it
rely that heavily on a straight-forward, old school
platforming formula that Return to Dreamland pulled
off so well. Rather, it settles on a nice sweet spot
between the two and excels on the multiplayer
front to boot. While Allies borders on being a bit
too simplistic and contains a pretty brief campaign,
most Kirby fans will know that this is basically par for
the course anyway.
Some of these can feel like tacked-on afterthoughts,
though they do inject a bit of depth, difficulty, and
variance to the somewhat straightforward gameplay.
There’s also the likely potential of free DLC on
the way, if the already released “update 2.0” with
new characters is any indication. At the end of the
day, Allies proves to be a charming and enjoyable
platforming experience decorated with some
deliciously vibrant and colorful 2.5D graphics, stellar
co-op gameplay, and the amusing gimmicks of
combining elemental abilities and recruiting baddies.
There at least exists plenty of additional content for
completionists sprinkled in, in the form of a sort of
hard mode and time trial hybrid, a few mini-games,
and a battle arena where you square off against
some entertaining bosses.