Kirby Star Allies (Nintendo Switch) Review

By Adam Riley 14.03.2018

Review for Kirby Star Allies on Nintendo Switch

HAL's Kirby series has gone from strength to strength over the years, starting off as one of the simplest platformers around, to then seeing Kirby used in a variety of different ways outside of the 2D side-scrolling world - pinball, puzzlers, racing, golf, and many other inventive examples - and then being developed by Good-Feel into a yarn-based affair. Now HAL is back with a traditional adventure, one where Kirby is joined by many allies, some friends and other befriended foes, in Kirby Star Allies for Nintendo Switch.

It is time to head back to Dream Land in the first old school, traditional Kirby title since Kirby's Adventure on Wii. This time, four players can join forces - or just leave it to the computer AI if playing solo - with Kirby able to throw special hearts towards enemies and leave them awestruck, willing to follow and fight for the cause. Yes, even King Dedede can be roped into it. This opens up a world of intriguing Copy Ability power-ups as allies can enhance Kirby's currently absorbed power to bring new elements to the table.

Levels are as bright and breezy as ever before, and filled with plenty of goodies to seek out, including jigsaw pieces that fill in pictures, rather like 3DS owners could collect pieces via StreetPass, but a simpler method. As ever, Kirby is able to suck in air and fly off into the sunset, meaning many of the enemies can be bypassed, but there is so much that will be missed doing that, plus HAL has slotted in extra obstacles and dangers to convince gamers to cease such bypassing behaviour. At the end of the day, there is a lot of content packed in, so zipping past without a care is a personal choice, and one that most fans will not make.

Screenshot for Kirby Star Allies on Nintendo Switch

The draw here is the chance to befriend so many foes and use them not only to defeat other enemies, or boost Kirby's power, but also solve puzzles where only particular combinations of abilities can aid progression. On top of this, there are even some new Copy Abilities present, such as a Spider move that can fire out webs, or an Artist one that had Kirby wielding a paintbrush and making impressions on a canvas to attack. A lot of thought has gone into taking the original formula and polishing it up as much as possible to keep things fresh for Switch owners now.

For those that want something extra to tickle their fancy, there are some mini-games included, the first being Chop Champs, a competition to cut down a tree as quickly as possible, moving around the trunk to quickly avoid incoming critters whilst still hitting the right targets. The second, Star Slam Heroes, is a test of reactions, powering up Kirby before slamming a meteor to prevent it from destroying everything. They are mere asides, but still enjoyable with a group of people together, proving to be more of a laugh than perhaps some would expect. Also, there is indeed more to unlock, but hey, that would be heading into spoiler territory!

Screenshot for Kirby Star Allies on Nintendo Switch

Cubed3 Rating

8/10
Rated 8 out of 10

Great - Silver Award

Rated 8 out of 10

Fun for all your friends and family, Kirby Star Allies is a Kirby-by-numbers, sticking to the formula that has worked for so long, and proves to be just as fun as ever before. Mixing in the four-player element makes for some hilarious antics, and the augmented powers that can be utilised make for some extremely exciting scenarios. The only drawback is the age-old concern of things being a bit simpler than desired, but HAL has packed in plenty of entertaining content to appease fans new and old alike.

Developer

HAL Laboratory

Publisher

Nintendo

Genre

2D Platformer

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  8/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

Comments

Comments are currently disabled

Subscribe to this topic Subscribe to this topic

If you are a registered member and logged in, you can also subscribe to topics by email.
Sign up today for blogs, games collections, reader reviews and much more
Site Feed
Who's Online?
Azuardo, GamingLillyCat, mikem52

There are 3 members online at the moment.