Kirby Star Allies Review: Better Together

(By Paige)

Kirby Star Allies came out exclusively for Nintendo Switch on the 16th of March. After giving the demo a try (my first thoughts on it are here) it’s time to see if the game holds up to my first positive thoughts.

Kirby Star Allies is a puzzle action 2d platformer. I think it’s a wonderful game for families, even if it did receive a PG rating here in Australia.

Added to the main game, there is a free dlc update coming. In the dlc, characters from previous games such as Rick & Kine & Koo from Kirby’s Dream Land 2 will be available as Dream Friends. The dlc will be released on March 28th.

 

 Gameplay

In Kirby Star Allies, Kirby can throw friend hearts at enemies and recruit them as CPU allies or other players. These allies fight with you, help you solve puzzles, give you health if they ate a food they don’t need (via a kiss), and certain abilities can combine with others. There are new copy abilities for Kirby being Spider and Painter as well as one time use screen clearing attacks like the Festival ability.

 

Weapons such as the sword, cutter, bomb and yo-yo can be combined with the elements of fire, water, ice or electricity to increase attack or in some cases create a new form. For instance, a Rock + Water/Ice make a curling stone. Some combined abilities are just special moves, mostly for puzzles. Larger allies such as Vividra or Chef Kawasaki have special abilities that can heal or create large attacks on a cool down period.

In some levels there are platforms for four characters which make either the Friend Circle, Friend Train, Friend Bridge or Friend Star. Throughout the levels there are puzzle pieces to collect, each level has a pink piece which unlocks special sections of pictures whereas the blue ones fill in random places on any one. You can also use amiibos to get extra puzzle pieces and health items, the Kirby brand ones give more.

 

There isn’t much of a story beyond the main villains. However when you pause the screen in a boss fight it gives a summary of the character and their motivations.

A Dish Best Served With Friends

Co-op play is the best way to play Kirby Star Allies. While I played through the campaign solo I had the most fun playing it with my siblings. It’s drop-in drop-out so they can come in and leave at any time. In co-op the goal game splits screen and tells how many stars each person collected in the level. This can be a little disheartening for younger players though.

There are also neat extras in co-op like in the goal game, if everyone lands on the same level they get a team bonus, and you can revive each other instead of losing lives.

Tips For Playing With Younger Gamers

• If you can, play AS Kirby as all the other players are tethered to him and only his life count matters
• Play on a separate save file (each profile gets three)
• If there’s more places to explore remind them to wait before entering doors
• With the exception of puzzle sections, let them play as whatever character they want
• Remind them of who they’re playing as and what colour they are especially after changing
• If they’re close enough to you after eating you can share some health by touching each other
• Only allow one person at a time to control the Friend Circle, Friend Bridge and Friend Train abilities so that there aren’t accidental deaths from missed jumps

 

The game is quite easy, my only deaths were caused by failing Friend Circle jumps and being crushed by walls. The campaign is also quite short even for a Kirby game. This plus the overtly generous lives makes it perfect for new gamers and younger children. Older players might also want to turn Display tips off as otherwise it explains all the puzzles in game. There are two extra modes that are unlocked after beating the main game.

Additional Content

The first is Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! This is a time trial Speed Run-esque mode where you play as any one of the so far 28 Allies without Kirby. This condensed version of the game has some extra fights sprinkled in. You can only play one run at a time but there are checkpoints. You also start with less health, but gain it and other upgrades throughout each level. It is slightly more challenging and is more rewarding especially to attempt to beat your last times.

 

The other is a Boss Rush mode called The Ultimate Choice with several difficulty levels. Each one coming with more battles and less healing items to last you the whole game. I managed to play the lowest difficulties with my younger sister. At some point I’ll beat the Ultimate Choice on the highest difficulty and get that sweet sweet 100% score.

 

All of the modes can be played co-op, however it will record it as such on the extra modes to be fair to people sharing their complete times.

There are also two mini-games both with three difficulty settings. In Chop Champs you chop a tree down while switching sides to avoid bugs and spikes. While in Star Slam Heroes the Kirbies must slam a meteor back into space using a meter charge. These are less engaging than the other modes and the CPU’s are quite good.

Final Verdict

While short, it has love and care with special little touches and additional modes. If you have at least one person to play with whether a friend, partner or young relative then this game is a must have. Otherwise unless you are a big Kirby fan or the Speed Run and Boss Rush mode interest you, you might find it lacking for content.