Review: Kirby's Epic Yarn

System: Wii
Genre: Platformer
Developer: Good Feel/Hal Laboratory, Inc.
Publisher: Nintendo
Players: 1-2
Release: USA Oct 17, 2010 / EUR Feb 25, 2011 / JPN Oct 14, 2010 / AUS Feb 24, 2011
Controllers Supported: Wii Remote
Rated: E for Everyone

Arguably the cutest video game character ever created, Kirby has appeared in numerous titles since his Game Boy debut in 1992. He's been in puzzle games, pinball games, and racing games. While Kirby has been making the platform rounds on the DS over the years, it's been a little over a decade since the little pink blob has shown his face on a Nintendo console in a platformer. Kirby's Epic Yarn may deviate from the traditional Kirby platform style that fans are used to, but you'll more than likely be having so much fun that you won't care.

Kirby's out hunting for food when his path crosses Yin-Yarn, an evil sorcerer. Yin-Yarn sends Kirby to his home world, Patch Land, a world made up entirely of yarn. After getting a feel for the ground, Kirby quickly realizes that he's no longer in Dream Land. Not only is his body now composed of yarn like the rest of Patch Land's citizens, he can no longer fly or inhale enemies. After meeting up with Prince Fluff, Kirby finds out that Patch Land has been split into six parts due to Yin-Yarn's meddling. To sew the land back together, Kirby and Prince Fluff will have to adventure across six different areas to retrieve the magic yarn to make Patch Land whole once more.

Patches, strings, and buttons compose the game's
entire world and it looks fantastic.

Kirby may not be able to fly, inhale foes, or copy powers, but he's still far from helpless. His primary means of defense is the Yarn Whip. For being a piece of string with a star attached at the end, the Yarn Whip has many different uses. It can literally take enemies apart, turn them into yarn balls to used as ammo, remove zippers, and swing on buttons to get across gaps. No disrespect to the Belmont clan and their friends, but even their whips weren't this much fun to play with. Kirby can also transform himself into a weight to smash adversaries or a parachute to slow his descent to make reaching far off platformers easier.

The ablities mentioned above are just things that Kirby has access to all the time. By touching a Metamortex, Kirby can turn into a variety of different vehicles. The ultra powerful Tankbot lets Kirby hover, shoot missiles and punch. As a Saucer Kirby can fly in any direction and use a tractor beam to pull in enemies, which can be used to power up a devesating attack that nukes every enemy on screen in addition to clearing away road blocks. He may not obtain powers in the manner that fans are accustomed to, but there's still plenty of skills at Kirby's disposal.

If there's a cuter fire truck, I haven't seen it.

Strange as it may sound, Kirby has no lives in this game because he can't die. If he falls into a pit, he's carried right back up to the nearest platform. The biggest penalty that can be dealt to you if you get hit by an enemy or fall off screen is that you'll lose some beads. Beads are scattered all throughout each level and act as a score counter. The more beads you collect, the higher your score.  Collect enough beads and you'll earn a gold medal. It's a good incentive to try to hang onto as many beads as you can and it encourages you to score golds on all the levels as it can get pretty addicting. Most beads are in plain sight, but there will be plenty of times where you'll have to go out of your way to grab a set. Each level also houses three items, two peices of furniture and a disc, containing a piece of music. So if you want to fully complete a level, you'll have to find everything.

The biggest draw to Kirby's Epic Yarn are it's unique visuals. Nearly the whole game's graphics are made of up yarn, patches, zippers, buttons and stitches and it's all a visual splendor. However, the graphics aren't just there to wow you, impressive as they are. Kirby's yarn graphics are highly interactive. You'll use the Yarn Whip to latch onto buttons to pull platforms closer to you, unzip parts of the background to unlock hidden paths and some of your platforming is even done in the foreground. There's been lots of talk behind this game's visual design, but there's plenty of substance to match the stylish graphics in Kirby's Epic Yarn.

No kill like overkill.

Like New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Kirby's Epic Yarn supports drop in and out cooperative play. The second player controls Prince Fluff who can do everything Kirby can do. Having a second player along can make getting out-of-reach beads easier. Just pick them up with the Yarn Whip and toss them in the desired direction. Don't have a yarn ball to throw at an enemy and don't feel like making them come undone with the Yarn Whip? Just pick up your pal and toss them at the flunkie. This same tactic can be used for breaking blocks. If one player is more adept than the other, he or she can carry their partner through some of the tricker sections. Even the special abilities granted by the Metamortex take two players into account with co-op controls. When opperating the Tankbot, one person tilts the Wii Remote and jumps while the other is in control of firing the missiles. Genius.

A Kirby game wouldn't feel right without catchy, quirky tunes that are pleasing to the ears and Kirby's Epic Yarn is another winner in that regard. Most games these days are hitting players with rock and orchestra scores. Epic Yarn's soundtrack stands out just as much as it's clothes-like appearance. You'll hear a lot of instruments in the game's score, but none more prominant than the piano. Not every track in the game has the piano at the center of the audio, but the tracks that do really take center stage. There's a wonderful rendition of the classic Kirby theme, Green Greens, the Halberd and an asortment of other Kirby favorites. As great as the new takes on the classic Kirby songs are, there are plenty of new tunes that are every bit as good as the tracks fans are familiar with. Rainbow Falls is easily a song you could whistle while you work. Cool Cave houses one of the most relaxing video game songs you could hear, which is a stark contrast to the level's challenging platform segments. You'll be hunting out those songs in each level just so you can listen to the music when you're not playing.

One of the many ways the yarn graphics affect the gameplay.

Kirby's Epic Yarn may not be a traditional Kirby game, but what it does, it does extremely well, so well that it really doesn't matter that the little puff ball can't suck up enemies or fly. It plays well if you're going solo or if you want to have a friend join in. It probably won't take you long to finish, but it will be some of the best hours you've sent in front of the TV with a Wii Remote held sideways in your hands and you'll more than likely want go for 100%. The only reason you shouldn't buy Kirby's Epic Yarn is if you're vehemently against having a good time. And if that's the case, well, why are you even playing games to begin with?





Humble Beginnings

If playing Kirby's Epic Yarn and not being able to fly seems odd then playing Kirby's Dream Land (Game Boy), the game that introduced the world to Kirby may be even more jarring. In Kirby's first outing, his staple copying ability wasn't even born yet. All Kirby could do to defend himself was inhale foes and shoot them back at oncoming opposition as stars.
Consisting of only five levels, this brief, but fun adventure is now available on the 3DS Virtual Console for chump change. It also gave as the undeniably catchy Kirby theme song, Green Greens, which still sounds excellent even on the archaic Game Boy hardware.






Yarn Tales

Like most games, the American TV ad for Kirby's Adventure, Kirby's second game was much different than that of it's Japanese counter part. That's not to say that the American commercial for Kirby's Adventure is bad. Far from it. But one look at the Japanese version and one may get to thinking that the idea behind Kirby's Epic Yarn wasn't all that original after all. See for yourself.