Tag Archives: Stylus

Kirby Mass Attack Review

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It’s time to look at a quick Kirby game from a while back. I say quick, but due to the fact that the game forces you to collect a ton of medals it actually isn’t quite as short as it would appear. Expect a lot of backtracking here unless you managed to grab the medals the first time around. It’s not super likely though as the game forces you to lose your pals every time you go to a new world. It’s not until you have completed the first 4 worlds that you keep your full squad each time. It’s a bit of a dicey mechanic if you ask me. I always feel like grabbing collectibles should be completely optional. Ah well, I wouldn’t say it’s incredibly long or anything like that I guess. At the end of the day the controls are what hold this one back a bit.

The game starts with Kirby trying to enjoy a normal day but getting attacked by a mysterious villain. Kirby has now been split into 10 different mini Kirbys. He will need to regain the scepter and stop the forces of evil in order to emerge as the one true Kirby once more. Is that even possible? Only time will tell. One thing’s for sure, Kirby won’t rest until he saves the galaxy once more. While I may write Kirby up to be more heroic than he is, the guy always does have a knack for saving the world at the end of the day and that’s what counts. He’s a guy that you can count on to get the job done. Without Kirby the heroes would definitely have been doomed in this world.

The gameplay is very stylus centered as I referenced earlier. This isn’t your classic Kirby platformer. In fact, you can’t even move without the stylus. How it works is you tap wherever on the screen you want your Kirbys to run to. They follow the stylus and will collect anything that is in their path. To attack an enemy you just tap the enemy and they will do the rest. The more Kirbys you have on your squad, the easier it will be for them to clean shop and take these guys down. 10 is the maximum amount of Kirbys you can have at once. With them at the ready you can activate a lot of different mechanisms in the levels and really have your pick of how you want to complete some levels.

There are around 3-5 medals in each level. You only need to care about the rainbow ones. Those are absolutely critical to getting the final world unlocked so pick up as many of them as you can. You’ll be happy you did this up front so that you don’t have to replay too many levels. It’s also worth noting that obtaining medals unlocks more minigames so those might be something you’ll want to check out. It does help the replay value. If you take away the replaying levels part then this game is probably around 7 hours or so. Throw in the replays and I’d say that this extends the game to around 10-11 hours easy. It’s forced replay value though so it’s not as helpful to your enjoyment of the game as you might think.

I also couldn’t get around the controls even by the end of the game. Why would you have your character controlled by the stylus? It’s way more fulfilling to just control the character yourself. At least, that’s the way I see it for sure. I like to just be able to move the characters and things are a lot more entertaining that way. The characters don’t always respond very well either which leads to some extra deaths that I wouldn’t have encountered otherwise. At least the game gives you a chance to save them. When a Kirby gets hit, they turn into a ghost and you can use another Kirby to grab them and bring them back to Earth. If that happens then you keep the Kirby. If the Kirby goes away then you lose him until you earn 100 fruits again to get a new one. Obtaining a new Kirby doesn’t take too long but since they’re crucial to obtaining some of the Rainbow Medals you want to take good care of them.

The graphics are pretty solid. This game holds up with the rest in that respect. The level designs are fun and all of the worlds do feel different. I’d say it’s fair to make the case that a lot of effort was put into the game. It’s certainly not a cash-in or anything like that. This game did try its best. Then we’ve also got a solid soundtrack filled with a lot of solid Kirby tunes. I’d say that some are new, some are old, and some are remixes which is a pretty solid balance. I’m not the biggest Kirby fan though so I’m not 100% sure on the music balances.

The bosses are pretty fun and they’re all fairly unique. They have different attack patterns and things like that. The only problem is that due to the way the controls are, it barely matters. No matter how they play, your controls are the same. You just tap the Kirbys onto them and that’s it. Because of that, the best boss is probably one who fades into the background so you have to attack him by jumping into barrels as if this was a DK country game. It was a solid boss fight that tests your reaction times and makes for a satisfying victory once you do manage to win. This game is also a little more difficult than the average Kirby game I should mention. It’s not particularly hard next to the average game but definitely way more intricate than the typical Kirby experience.

Overall, Kirby Mass Attack is a pretty decent game, but one that is limited by some of the choices the developers made. The main two things holding the game back are the controls and the fact that you have to go back to get the Rainbow Medals. The latter decision is particularly the one that really doesn’t help things out. It’s just not something the game should have done. It only hurts the game by a star though. Ultimately if you can find a good price for it then I would still recommend Mass Attack. It’s definitely a unique Kirby game and it has a real story as well so that’s always fun.

Overall 6/10

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse Review

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It’s time to look at one of the latest Kirby games. It has been quite a few years since it came out by this point, but it feels fairly recent to me. This Kirby game took the unique approach of acting like a DS game. The Wii U does have a stylus after all, but it’s easy to forget since most games wisely stayed as far away from this mechanic as possible. Unfortunately Nintendo didn’t learn this lesson quite as readily which meant game over for them. I’m afraid that this is easily the weakest Kirby game that I have played and it just fails to capture the charm and essence of the series. Kirby himself does look fairly good though.

The game starts off with Kirby relaxing and just trying to have a good day when a villain appears and blasts the entire planet with an energy attack. Even Kirby couldn’t react quickly enough to dodge and at once time stopped for everyone. Fortunately a fairy freed Kirby and our protagonist returned the favor in the next scene. The two heroes decide to team up to save the planet and that begins our adventure. Enjoy the opening cutscene since we don’t get another one until the very end of the game. Was this game fairly low budget? I would say absolutely!

Aside from the lack of cutscenes (Because Nintendo isn’t exactly known for them anyway) this game takes a lot of shortcuts. The most obvious one is the reused bosses. There are 7 worlds which each have 3 levels and then a boss fight. Worlds 1,2, and 3 have the same bosses as 4,5, and 6. It’s not something that you would expect from a AAA Nintendo game, but maybe this one was only AA. What supports this theory is the game is only 3 hours and 32 minutes long. That’s considering that I left the game on while grabbing lunch and I would pause it whenever I had to leave the room as well. It’s just a very short game and you could probably decipher that yourself. Each level is around 5-6 minutes tops with some being shorter. It’s a fairly easy game so not dying will also speed things up.

A game being short isn’t really a bad thing, but if I had bought the game at its original retail price then I certainly would have been a little disappointed. Maybe Nintendo has just thrown in the towel though. Star Fox Zero was also incredibly short and likewise for Star Allies. I guess unless you are Mario or Link you can’t expect too much. Still, it would probably still get the usual 7 stars as with most Nintendo games, but what really hurts this one is the gameplay.

You can’t actually move at all. To control Kirby you have to draw a path for him with controls that bring you back to the Wii days. Kirby will refuse to get on your path unless it is perfectly straight and even then he has a tendency to lose his balance and momentum. He has a few different forms like a Tank and a Rocket, but those all use the same controls. I didn’t buy a Kirby game to draw, I bought it to cheese the levels by floating over all of them. That isn’t an option in this game and I have to question the rationale behind this. It just doesn’t seem like a good gameplay idea if you ask me. It gets old after a level or 2. Then you’ve also got the fact that a lot of the levels are auto moving levels which hurts a bit since you have to wait at their pace. Some of those levels I could play with one hand for a bit or do some stretching while I was waiting.

I did die a handful of times during boss fights thanks to the controls though. It never feels earned though and just cheesy. I would proudly blame the gameplay style for each of my deaths. Even though we got the solid cosmic battle at the end as in most Kirby games I couldn’t enjoy it as much because the design of the fight was no good. You have to rely on a lot of RnG to take him down for the count. All right, I think that’s enough about the gameplay so lets go into some of the more positive aspects of the game.

There is a reasonable amount of replay value here to make up for the short length. You can play Challenge Mode which gives you a reason to replay most of the stages. There are also treasure chests in each level which allow you to get the collectibles. There are a bunch of figures and music themes to grab as well as Diary pages which will tell you a bonus story. Grabbing all of the collectibles will take you a reasonable amount of time without making the mistake of being a big grind. All in all, if you decide to 100% the game then it will have awarded you enough content to justify the purchase.

The soundtrack in the game is also pretty good. It doesn’t have any themes as iconic as Battle Against Nightmare, but was still as good as a Nintendo title should be. The final boss theme is solid and the normal level themes are engaging. The graphics are also nice and bright as they should be. They are certainly a step down from some of the previous Kirby games thanks to the dicey decision to make Kirby a ball the whole time and the stop motion esque effects for most of the cutscenes, but beyond that you can tell that it’s a modern title.

I also have to give some kudos to Kirby himself and his role in the story. He looks pretty brave and strong throughout the opening as he dodges a laser blast and saves the fairy. You can also feel the emotion behind his character as he glares at the final boss. Kirby is definitely a fun lead and while some games can play up his childlike nature too much, this one didn’t. He took all the plot twists in stride. Kirby is all business in the climax. I didn’t care about the fairy plot much, but it’s not like it got almost any screen time to be honest so she was just around to jump start the plot. I didn’t even realize that there was something in the plot for a twist until it happened, but I guess it was good so that we could get a true final boss.

Overall, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is a fun game in every area except the gameplay. Unfortunately the gameplay is tedious and repetitious. It completely gets in the way of what the Kirby games are usually about and I do have to take a star away. One thing that I love about the Kirby games is just flying to the top of the screen and getting to the end of the level. You can’t do that here since the game controls where you go and your paintbrush runs out very quickly. It’s unfortunate, but if you don’t mind the idea of drawing or even like the concept for a Kirby game then this is the one to check out. Regardless it isn’t a bad game, but I would sooner recommend grabbing the rest of them.

Overall 6/10

Prince of Persia The Fallen King Review

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The Prince of Persia franchise is a pretty good one. I enjoyed the film that came out and both games for the PS3 were very well done. I enjoyed the GBA installment as well and the only one that left much to be desired was the “Battles” spinoff for the DS. This is another Nintendo DS spinoff so there was definitely a reason to be a little worried. I’ve actually been working on this game for years and I finally got around to beating it. It’s definitely a decent game, but nothing more than that.

The plot is pretty convoluted and while it is a sequel to the PS3 game, it’s back to just being the Prince. (Evidently the epilogue explains why this is why, but I wasn’t about to spend money to buy the DLC) The Prince is basically looking for the King so that he can help out to stop the dark forces that he unleashed in the last game. He finds a mysterious being by the name of Zal, who is also dealing with some issues at the moment. Pieces of the puzzle have been stolen and villains are running rampant with all of their newfound power. The Prince agrees to help out Zal since he’s such a nice guy. Can they find out who the mastermind is and stop him before it’s too late? (The plot is a little vague because my recollection of it isn’t too good. Good ole Wikipedia definitely helped for the early parts.)

The gameplay for the game is essentially the traditional 2D Prince of Persia style from the good ole days. What’s the problem? Well, you should always be able to jump in a 2D side scroller. Always! Unfortunately, you can’t do this. The stylus is used to control everything and it’s very sensitive. A single misstep will cause you to lose and be forced to go through a long part again. I’m guessing that’s why the developers decided to give the player infinite lives. The only way to jump is if you are leaving a platform and tap the air or the next platform. This will cause the prince to do a little jump, which may destroy you when he jumps unexpectedly. Your partner (Zal) is around to fire energy blasts that can’t hurt your opponents or to disarm them. He grabs onto the purple energy, which is used to finish off puzzles. He can do all sorts of things that are just variations of each other throughout the game.

The actual combat is pretty rough. You have to tap the enemy and hope that the Prince won’t roll and leave you open for attack. The enemies are generally pretty easy since you just need to attack, block, attack, over and over again. It’s a winning cycle, but a tedious one at times. You really don’t feel like you’re fighting at all since you’re just tapping the same part of the screen a lot of times. Thanks to the infinite lives, nothing will really be a challenge for long. The final boss took some time because I couldn’t figure out what the game wanted to do, but I eventually solved it. (Hint…some giant swords can be stuck for a while.)

The Prince is all right, but definitely nothing special. He talks a good game and saving the world is a cool goal to chase after. He just doesn’t do anything noteworthy and The Prince is really along for the ride. I’m sure that he can fight, but there isn’t anyone for him to fight. Most of the game is just banter between him and Zal, but it’s not very good banter. The writers could learn a thing or two from the Sly Cooper writers.

Zal is really the only character in the game aside from the Prince, or at least the only notable one. I did not like him because it felt as if he was constantly making things harder for the Prince. They just need to hash out their differences and team up long enough to go and save the world. Zal may have some noble sentiments in there, but it’s hard to root for him. It doesn’t help that the plot is so vague and the story isn’t that well told. He’s just a really unmemorable guy who happened to be around for most of the game.

Graphically, the game isn’t very impressive, but the cutscenes aren’t bad. The “cutscenes” are stills where we get to see the plot advance. The artwork may not be top tier, but you do know what is happening and how to get there. While in gameplay, you’ll really just see a pixelated figure running around. The Megaman Battle Network games would put this one to shame. The Prince’s super form is awesome, but you can only see this thanks to the illustrations. In gameplay, it’s just not that effective. I don’t think a whole lot of effort was put into it.

There isn’t really a soundtrack. Sure, there is music in the game, but it’s just generic desert music. Nothing special and you won’t be remembering it after a while. This is unfortunate, but just how it has to be. I don’t believe that the music even changed all that much for the boss battles, but maybe it was a little different. Either way, I typically don’t expect much out of the DS games in terms of music, but this won’t win the game any stars. (Now, the GBA had some incredible tunes!)

Uh oh, this is not sounding like a positive game is it? It definitely fails as far as sequels go and it’s really just filler. I think the game was quickly made for a few bucks and you can tell that the quality control just wasn’t there. That being said, the game was pretty long so you definitely got what you paid for. (I got it for 5-10 dollars, which wasn’t bad) I forgot how many levels there were, but around the same as a typical Mario game. Unlike Mario, you cannot go back to play previous levels and you are permanently stuck to the world that you are up to. This means that I can only play the final three levels if I wanted to relive the good ole days. Trust me, I have better games to play so I wasn’t planning on it, but it’s disappointing that the option isn’t even there.

Overall, this is easily one of the worst Prince of Persia games. I’m tempted to say that it is the worst, but I’ll have to go and play the other one a little more first to be sure of this. The story is pretty dull and the characters aren’t very interesting, but the gameplay length is good. The actual gameplay could be much better, but it could also be a lot worse. I would say that the game isn’t very good and it gets repetitive very quickly. Still, the game is decent and I would never say that it was a downright bad game. I do wish that the stylus didn’t have to be used because the controls are definitely prone to cause unnecessary deaths because any movement will have the Prince running or jumping to his doom. I can’t say that I recommend this game and buy the New Super Mario Bros game if you want a true 2D side scroller.

Overall 5/10