Kirby Star Allies Switch Review

Kirby Star Allies Switch Review – Cute and everything else Kirby

With so many hectic games these days, sometimes it’s nice to play something that is cute and easy-going and nothing could be more cute and easy-going than Kirby Star Allies. As the name suggests, Kirby is joined by numerous allies, old and new, in his quest to stop Lord Hyness from unleashing the world destroying menace, Void Termina.

Stages are very basic, the formula seemingly not having changed much from the 1990’s (this is my first ever play of a Kirby game). All the core aspects from the main series are here, from Kirby gobbling up enemies and friends to use their abilities, lots of going through doors, cute health pickups and recurring bosses, such as King Dede and Whispy Woods, intent on stopping you from your mission. A new move sees Kirby throwing hearts at enemies to friend them and then you can combine abilities to gain different powers. You can have one to three friends following Kirby, controlled by AI, or you can have one to three players join in for local co-op fun.

There’s a plethora of powers to gain that are mostly based on the elements; earth, water, fire and wind. You also have ice and electricity. Usually certain abilities can be used against each other, such as water or ice to put out fire, or electricity to defeat enemies that use water. Kirby gains powers off his allies in two ways, one being that he can swallow an ally and gain whatever power they had aka the copy ability. The second way is to ask an ally for their power, combining the two to progress through a stage.

The simplicty of Kirby Star Allies means the idea of having three allies with different abilities to traverse levels is not quite put to good use. There are a few moments where you’ll need to combine powers to pass a section, but mostly Kirby and his comrades use their powers simply to defeat enemies on their own, like a beat ’em up similar to Streets of Rage. It’s a bit of a missed opportunity not using this idea to its full potential. If a formula works, it seems Nintendo don’t like straying from it too far, as seems to be the case here.

“This leads me to wonder why, in a modern Kirby game, does each level need to be split in this way instead of making them one huge level?”

Kirby begins their journey in Dream Land, a small 3D map consisting of smaller levels dotted about. The first lot of levels act as a tutorial, which allows players to get used to the controls and to learn the general gameplay. Then, using Kirby’s Warp Star, you–and whatever allies are currently with you–are whisked off to the outer skirts of Planet Popstar, where you can access more levels. You unlock one level to unlock the next and so on and so fourth, the maps laid out a bit like a game board you’d see in Mario Party.

Levels are played in 2.5D and are made up of small sections connected by doorways and these sections can last from a few seconds to a few minutes. The issue with this is that you’ll be seeing a blue loading screen a lot and though loading times are brief, it can break immersion. This leads me to wonder why, in a modern Kirby game, does each level need to be split in this way instead of making them one huge level?

Once you’ve completed a section, you can’t go back, unless you come across a door that has a red star above it. This is a special area that has hidden goodies and Kirby and co. can find special rainbow puzzle pieces or a button that unlocks the Dream Palace on the main map or extra levels. This area can be returned to at any point, especially if you need certain characters to complete it.

Puzzle pieces are collected throughout each level and are used to reveal celebration pictures, special jigsaw puzzles of Kirby. Most pieces are blue but you need the Rainbow pieces to fill in special pink areas of a puzzle. Fans will likely be the most enthusiastic about collecting these pieces which unveil pictures of Kirby in different scenarios. The Dream Palace allows Kirby to unlock special characters–returning from previous Kirby titles–by using the Dream Rod, adding more powerful friends to his troupe.

“There’s no real strategy to how bosses are dealt with or how they attack, another missed opportunity to better use the idea of combining powers.”

During a level, you will sometimes come across a Friend Platform, in which you’ll need all three friends (and Kirby) to activate. By jumping on this platform, you can activate a special friend power that sees all four allies working together to pass an area. This includes making a Friend Bridge to allow Key Dee to cross with a key and unlock a special door to let them pass. They can perform Friend Circle, which sees them rolling through the level, Katamari-style, allowing them to break through walls. They can also form the Friend Train, which allows them to run continuously in one direction at a faster speed. There is also the Friend Star and the Star Allies Sparkler, the latter of which is used later in the game. All these moves, bar the last two, see each ally invulnerable to enemy attack, bashing through them with ease.

Each ally has their own health bar and as they receive damage, of course, this depletes the health bar. You can find health pickups, such as fruit and drinks, and then share it among the characters that have less health. They feed the health to each other like how a mother bird feeds its children.

There are a number of bosses to face but when playing on the default setting they are, for the most part, very easy to defeat, with the allies simply beating them up until they fall down and explode. There’s no real strategy to how bosses are dealt with or how they attack, another missed opportunity to better use the idea of combining powers.

The main story mode can be completed fairly quickly–in under 5 hours–but there is more to do after the adventure is over, with extra modes being unlocked. There’s five extra modes in total, some readily available from the start and others unlocked once Story Mode is complete. Chop Champs sees Kirby and allies competing to see who can chop the most wood while avoiding enemies and insects that cling to the tree and Star Slam Heroes sees four Kirby’s competing to see who can hit a meteor as far away as possible, like baseball. Guest Star ???? Star Allies is a condensed version of the main game that you can play without Kirby, the allies going on an adventure all on their own. The Ultimate Choice is basically a boss rush game and Heroes in Another Dimension sees Kirby and co warped to four other dimensions. These dimensions are completely new levels and have a higher difficulty rating than the main story mode. The best mode for me is Heroes in Another Dimension as it is an entirely new setting, with the slightly higher challenging gameplay feeling much more rewarding.

Kirby Star Allies Switch Review summary:

Kirby Star Allies is clearly a game aimed at players who don’t want a challenge. The difficulty of the game, in that it was too easy, had been criticised and so difficulty levels were added, but the game is clearly intended for a young audience or players that want quick and simple sessions. That’s not to say Kirby Star Allies is a bad game, far from it. It plays smoothly, is colourful and oozes child-friendly charm, but it can start to feel rinse and repeat, with new ideas that are under utilised.