By Aaron N
At E3 Nintendo announced a new Kirby title coming out for the Nintendo Wii. This continued what seemed to be a new trend of old franchises being brought back to the current generation in a 2D environment. But this Kirby game looked different than the past titles. It was made entirely of strings of yarn. Also because of this the gameplay would be vastly different as well from the classic Kirby formula. This made skeptics of the fans of the Kirby series, but it would prove to be an interesting and fun gaming experience.
Graphics:
As mentioned before this game was made entirely of strings of yarn. This is an interesting and different concept that really hasn't been seen before. It's a dangerous move in a world where it seems like everyone is looking to make the most realistic looking game. But this move was a beneficial move. The graphics were fluid and the usage of yarn did not hinder any from the look of the game. In fact it actually has beautiful graphics and that is something I never thought I would say about yarn. You can tell the difference between each character and each character design has it's own personality. Even the classic characters that are brought into the world made of yarn look differently than in previous games. It is a unique concept and it puts this Kirby game in a different level all on its own.
Story:
The story begins with Kirby getting sucked into a magical sock by the sinister Yin-Yarn. Now this magical sock is actually a gateway to Patch land which is made up entirely of yarn. There Kirby befriends Prince Fluff who accompanies him on his journey to put the pieces of patch land back together. You do this by defeating the bosses of each world who are made up of special yarn that piece the worlds back together. But while this is all happening, Yin-Yarn is taking over Dreamland and turning it into yarn. The story is told as if it's being read out of a book and it even has a narrator. The narration is clearly written for a child and the narrator speaks in a smooth happy voice, it made me feel like I was watching Nick Jr. But once you get past the childness you can get into the story as since it's written for a child, it's easy to follow and you can turn off your brain and just mindlessly play through the game.
Gameplay:
The gameplay in this game is naturally different than previous Kirby installments. Gone are the days of sucking up enemies and copying abilities. Instead you have a piece of yarn that you throw at enemies which grapples around them. Then you untangle them or you roll them up in a ball to throw at your enemies. Then you reach points in various levels where you turn into different things. For example you can turn into a tank and shoot missles at enemies. You use only the wiimote and you turn it sideways as if it's a classic Nintendo controller. This really helped to make it feel like an old school nintendo game. The levels do become repetitive though. Since you really only have one attack move there isn't much variety in how you defeat enemies. Also there is no way to lose in this game. If you get hit you just lose some jewels that you collect, or if you fall off a cliff you get pulled back up to the part you fell or sometimes further in the level and you lose some jewels. This makes the difficulty of the game almost minimal, but since it was obviously made for children you can understand why they did this. But regardless of the absolute lack of difficulty the game is still really fun to play.
Music:
The music in this game fits in with the classic Kirby soundtrack. The music is catchy and you will enjoy playing the levels because the music is simply enjoyable to listen to. And when you get into some of the classic levels that are redone, you get different versions of the famous Kirby songs and they do not disappoint. The music really adds to the game experience and you are able to listen to it afterwards when you unlock the songs as you play.
Overall:
This game was clearly made for a younger audience, and even though it is blatant at times, it does not make this game any less fun. I would have liked for it to have been a bit harder but I still had a blast playing it. This game had unique graphics and a unique style of play. It is definitely very different than any other Kirby game that has been released, but sometimes different is a good thing. If you want to just shut your mind off and if you can handle the uniqueness then this is definitely a game worth picking up.
Kirby's Epic Yarn gets an 8/10
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