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I usually like to detoxify myself something a little more colorful and cheery after dreary and desaturated shooters like Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine and Gears of War 3 (not saying they’re bad, but let’s face it, they aren’t the happiest games around). Kirby seemed perfect enough to clean the slate. It’s one of those series that widely known to be easy but fun enough for anyone to enjoy, the Kirby games on the DS complimented the touchscreen controls many times and Kirby Mass Attack is no different, but is the game any fun?
Kirby has been cursed by an evil mage known as Necrodius, splitting kirby into 10 seperate Kirbys, it’s up to you to guide the army of kirbys to defeat Necrodius and to pull Kirby together. The story here is just to present the premise to the player, it isn’t the game’s strong point but it isn’t intrusive and it doesn’t force itself to your face, so I appreciate that.
The game plays a cross between Kirby Canvas Curse, Lemmings and Pikmin, you control the game entirely with the stylus by tapping, dragging and swiping your way through the game. As you go through the game, you collect fruits to fill a meter, whenever this meter hits 100 a new Kirby pops on to the screen for you to command, you have a maximum of 10 Kirbys to control, the more there are, the more powerful your attacks are on enemies, more paths open up but becomes more overwhelming to guide 10 Kirby’s throughout the game.
The game definitely makes a smart use of the touch screen controls, while it can be frustrating at times when the Kirby’s don’t follow your commands properly but the touchscreen controls could not be replicated with the controller controls and they work great most of the time. There are times where you can’t see what’s ahead of you while moving because the Kirbys are too close to the edge of the screen, you will need to move them back a few steps then forward again to at least see what’s ahead, and that can be a problem.
The way the Kirbys attack is that they gang up on an enemy and pound it to the ground; the more you have, the quicker the enemy is taken down. Some bits will require the maximum number of Kirbys to unlock things in the game. In areas you will have to press certain buttons that require a number of Kirbys and some things need more kirbys to be pulled easier.
A Kirby game is always easy, there’s no way around it, but if you’re really looking for a challenge, each level has a number of gold coins to collect. Collecting enough will unlock certain minigames (something we should use to by now when it comes to first/second party Nintendo games on the DS), and there is a lot to unlock.
Each level requires a certain minimum number of Kirby’s to unlock, there will be times you will have to go through the older levels to collect more Kirby’s you might have lost. Back tracking might be a bit of a turn off to some people, but it isn’t very drastic as you can just hop onto the easier levels and gain them quickly and they aren’t beyond 10 Kirbys so it isn’t much of a grind.
There is death in Kirby Mass Attack, except that it’s easily avoidable, each kirby has three colors, pink (full health), blue (one more hit and will die), and white (dead). If a Kirby dies, he will slowly fly off screen, while flying you can drag him back down to earth to revive him. That leaves unlimited chances for you to keep on in the game without dying. There are a few things that will kill you with one hit in some levels but those are rare occasions. There is a pleasant amount of variety in the levels, while you go through the same mechanics the game does a good job keeping you on your toes with the number of obstacles, puzzles and enemy types you will face.
Many people complained why the game isn’t on the 3DS, but judging from the dual scren layout of the game, it makes much more sense why the game isn’t. The top screen acts like a HUD for your score, the number of Kirby’s at your command and the fruit meter that will replenish the number of Kirbys and add a good amount of score if the maximum number of 10 Kirbys has been reached.
Presentation-wise, like any Kirby game, the colors are vibrant and the whole spirit of the game is cheery and happy. Surely it is a refreshing change from the grim grays and nearly fecal browns with flying blood spatters you see in many games nowadays. Even with the many gameplay changes, the game still holds the Kirby spirit, and quite well.
For many people of many age ranges, Kirby Mass Attack is very fun, there is a ton of game in this and many will be playing this for a while as it is longer than your usual Kirby game.
What We Think: I was expecting it to be very short but turns out to be quite long. Excellent, fun and could be fun for anyone who doesn’t want another gruesome shooter in their hands, definitely a recommended pick.
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