On occasion a new game arrives that leaves us in wonder and awe over its uniqueness. Kirby’s Epic Yarn falls under this category, and I had a fantastic time with the game.
Sweet, pink and round. This is not going to be much more japanese – however… This new look which is the result of Kirby being sucked into Patch Land, turning him into yarn is daring – but it works and it works well. Everything in Patch Land consists of different types of fabric, from felt to cotton.
Full of cliches, but lots of rich gameplay
The story is as expected: extremely cliche. Once more the innocents are repressed and as the hero, Kirby and the player have to go and save the day and defeat evil. When Kirby decides to eat a very special tomato, also called a Metamato that he got tricked to eat by the evil yarn-scoundrel Yin-Yarn Kirby ends up in Patch Land. Here Kirby meets Prince Fluff, who introduces him to his land.
He tells the tale about Yin-Yarn destroying the land by stealing the magic yarn that is used to hold different parts of the land together. The hero that Kirby is, he immediately offers his help and goes on an adventure to collect all the missings pieces of yarn.
The gameplay is brilliant. There is so much more to Kirby’s Epic Yarn than going from A to B and avoiding obstacles and enemies like in any platformer. There’s extreme variety, as you can change shape and form – everything from a small crane to open zippers and buttons to being a fish that plays with a ball for points.
Transformations and epic boss fights
There are common transformations and there’s supers. Kirby’s ability to transform is a result of the Metamato he swallowed before he got gobbled up by Yin-Yarn. A super is activated by a Metamortex.
Once you know the boss’ weak points, they are easy to defeat and the fights are fun, albeit still quite status quo. If you have played 2d platformers with boss fights before, there’s not many surprises, but character design is top class.
The story is filled with humour which appeals to all ages – but if I have to put a finger on something that irks me, it is that cutscenes consist of narrating and simple animations being re-used.
Pay for your life with diamonds
Not dying at all has its good and bad sides – many will find the game too easy, but it keeps a pace in your adventure, and even the youngest can play. Losing diamonds is enough punishment for me to find it challenging since there is nothing better than getting top score for the levels.
The developer Good-Feel has a couple DS titles on the resume, and a few Wii titles – Wario Land: Shake Dimension and this. Both games are top tier. Kirby’s Epic Yarn is absolutely among the best titles out for Wii right now – even Epic Mickey is beaten. Running around as a pink piece of yarn, delivering hard punches to big adversaries and helping innocent citizens is indeed an epic adventure with lots of yarn involved.
