Kirby Star Allies review on the Nintendo Switch is more like a Mega Man – or, if you like, Cuphead – rather than a flat arcade about Mario and his friends.
The platform levels themselves are pure formality, if only because all the main characters are able to fly, and all the abysses can be completely quietly ignored.
The main thing is fights with bosses, which in this game are more than thirteen. Some can be accessed only in secret modes at secret levels of difficulty.
Visually Kirby Star Allies – without any exaggeration the most beautiful polygon platformer ever released.
I prefer pixel art and eight-bit games and I was always skeptical about the three-dimensional picture.
Disguised as a flat one,but in Star Allies, the technology (and the hardware powers of the Nintendo platforms) have finally reached the level after which we no longer want to return to the two dimensions.
The levels consist of forests, castles, glaciers and volcanoes that are usual for the genre.
But how it sparkles, overflows, plays the smallest details.
To which the subtle and expressive animation here is all these polygonal animals and little men …
And how they all interact with each other friend in grandiose physical fighting, in which he participates IMMEDIATELY everything that is on the screen.
And which would be unthinkable even in the most lovingly drawn real two-dimensional arcade games.
Music simply fits the picture fantastically – there are original themes, and orchestral-electronic arrangements and remixes of classics. In addition to this, I will say only two words: “the soundtrack of the year.”
Listen to at least a couple of songs from what sounds closer to the final of the game.
Such a feeling of ever-growing epic, supported by fanfare and ever faster pace of stringed instruments, was not even in Celeste .
But if you expect something from Kirby Star Allies in the spirit of Rayman Legends.
Another game that Star Allies strongly resembles visually – then you will remain severely disappointed.
There are only four worlds in the new Kirby, of which only one pulls on a full set of levels for the 2018 game.
The rest are more like a collection of technical demo versions, to which they forgot to attach the actual gameplay.
In some parts of the level of Kirby (or any other heroes) you just need to go from one gate to the other, without encountering on the way any enemy or obstacles. At other stages, you do not even need to go – you just descend on the elevator from the starting portal to the finish line!
And even when at the level of all the same set enemies and traps, they are very simple – even if you pass the game alone. All action begins when you reach the boss or the mini-boss. S
creen time only slightly increases puzzles in the spirit of “pretend that you can not decide that the child has guessed himself and increased self-esteem.”
Quick and Easy
This Star Allies again reminds the arcade production of Capcom.
Than the adjusted and balanced to the last pixel locations from the games of Nintendo.
There are no difficulty levels in the campaign.
The length of the lifebars and the number of lives are almost unlimited.
And the ability to flit out of any abyss negates even the minimal level of frustration that the Darkwing Duck, Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers or Duck Tales caused.
And unlike the elite co-op-scrolling shooters in the spirit of Cuphead.
Star Allies does not provide for the rebalancing of enemies and bosses under the number of players on the screen.
If one goes through the level alone easily, then the four of the army of magical creatures led by Kirby literally.
EXTRACT all living things on the level, and the poor boss can immediately go to the coffin.
It is possible to simply wild combinations of insane super abilities – say.
Turn a partner into an ice washer and let it go bouncing around the screen with a rebound
The real center of the game is the Guest Star and The Ultimate Goal modes.
Which open after the main campaign. The first is a remix of the campaign levels with new, much tougher rules.
The second is just boss fights, where you need to defeat all the big enemies in the game (or a whole series of quick-changing mini-bosses) in one life.
Both of these modes remain interesting even when playing with three experienced companions .
Not only because the bosses are stronger and the characters are weaker … but also because the passage is on time.
I’m not a big fan of speedruns, but thanks to the built-in (and very intuitive) timer.
Kirby Star Allies review stayed on my Switch after I played 100%.
It does not matter whether you pass it with someone or alone.
Only here, in combination with the almost limitless possibilities of Kirby and team-mates.
The tactics and strategies of passing are unthinkable in other arcade games.
To trample the boss four together after some practice is not so difficult.
The trick is to trample it as quickly as possible.
Losing at the same time a minimum of energy – after all there is still a whole line of dangerous bosses!
And the faster you play, the greater the risk in the battles.
Even with the most seemingly harmless enemies “for beginners” like a living tree.
It is thanks to secret modes, complexities and bosses that Kirby Star Allies justifies its price.
I find it difficult to name another game, on the hidden content in which developers have spent so much resources.
