Kirby Epic Yarn

Kirby's Epic Yarn

Rating: E

Score: 9.0/10

                Kirby is a series well known for being simple. Not "easy" per se, but simplistic in control and idea. You are a pink blob that eats people to gain their ability and your goal is to defeat any enemy of your land. You use the directional pad to move, the A button to jump, and the B button to eat/use ability. As the years went by and controllers got more ridiculous, Kirby always had the two buttons control, without any (or much) need for any additional buttons. Well, that simplistic blob gets a tad more minimal in Kirby's Epic Yarn, where he and everything else is transformed into yarn, making an even more simplistic style. This game is a Nintendo Wii exclusive title.

                The story is half-typical. You, Kirby, find an evil wizard who is trying to bring down the world, so you try to stop him. That's the typical bit; the less typical is you get sucked into his sock and you, along with a prince who looks a lot like Kirby, must fix the sock world using magic yarn and quickly before the evil wizard continues his plans. It's told in a children's storybook-kind of way, with simple narration that sounds like it was done by a professional children's book presenter. So, in that sense, it comes off as being very "childish", almost insultingly so.

                The difficulty also comes off as "childish". The first world probably only has a total of six enemies that could damage you; the rest you can sit on, pick up, avoid, anything without hassle. That doesn't mean it stays easy, although the inability to die take a toll on difficulty overall. Getting hit just takes away some beads Kirby collects through the levels (similar to Sonic and his rings. Get hit, the rings fly but you can get most of them back by just re-collecting them, assuming they didn't fly into oblivion). You can challenge yourself to get all the extra items, which gets to be a huge pain very quickly, but rewarding enough to make it worth it.

                The big feature with this game is the yarn.  A yarn Kirby can't inhale enemies (that wouldn't make sense, who ever heard of yarn eating things?) Because of this, Kirby now uses a whip/grappling hook sort of weapon to grab enemies and use their rolled-up yarn to throw at others. This doesn't hold as much variety as having multiple enemies all with different abilities to control, but it's arguably a breath of fresh air from the aforementioned ability system. It also presents itself in interesting obstacles, like where Kirby needs to yank a loose piece of yarn in the world to make a pathway.

                The worlds all have one single theme connecting them, and all the levels have new obstacles and/or unique features that make them memorable. Each level also has its own music, and the same for bosses and their own music. A lot of musical numbers are present, and a lot of them really suit the mood and style perfectly, making for very blissful levels no gamer has ever even thought about in a world where video games are dominated by grittiness and seriousness. The boss battles offer really amazing music, some of them being among the greatest the Kirby series has ever composed (perhaps even better than O2's infamous theme). Notably, the first boss has an unfitting theme, but it's great afterwards.

                With two similar characters, you can already guess there's Co-Op. It's a similar story to New Super Mario Bros Wii, where it wasn't needed at all but it's a cool addition to have.

                Considering gamers haven't seen Kirby in a platforming game on a console since the Kirby 64 (that was over a decade ago), it's great to see him back in action. To see Kirby in this new style is quite cool, even though it's limiting. It's even cooler to have such a surreal game be made: a happy and laid-back platformer in a generation filled with grit and realism. The fact this game exists is an achievement Nintendo should be proud of, that they will not succumb to the popular norm of gaming that would ruin their series. Although it's not perfect, it's certainly an experience that won't be replicated anytime soon, which in itself is enough to sell copies.