Back in Pink
Since launch, I've been playing Kirby: Star Allies off and on. At this point, I've experienced everything that the game has to offer, and I'm conflicted to say the least. Let me put it this way, a way that even Kirby could understand: with a food analogy. Imagine a nice grilled cheese. It is one of the simplest sandwiches there is: Two pieces of buttered bread with cheese in the middle, grilled until the bread is crisp. The grilled cheese is tasty, but totally predictable. I know exactly what that sandwich will taste like before even trying it. It isn't particularly exciting to eat a grilled cheese anymore, but I still enjoy them from time to time. That encapsulates my thoughts on Kirby: Star Allies all too well.
Kirby: Star Allies is not a bad game. It has several strengths, and the greatest among them are the visuals. I truly think this is a stunning game, and one of the prettiest games on Switch. The character models are just about what you'd expect, but the environments are stunning. The levels are made up of otherworldly geometry that constantly reminds you that you're in an alien world, and the depth of field makes the world seem vast. This is complimented by the excellent score that never failed to put a smile on my face. The standout tracks are certainly the remixes of classic Kirby songs that truly go above and beyond. You'll be playing a stage with a stirring track in the background, but then soon realize that it is a stylish remix of an iconic theme. Very well done.
Likewise, the co-op is excellent here. In fact, I'd say this is one of Nintendo's best co-op platformers in recent memory. Since the game is designed around the four-friend mechanic, multiplayer does not feel too chaotic as it does in, say, New Super Mario Bros. This is certainly the best way to play Kirby: Star Allies, and if you've got a couple friends willing to sit down and play the game, I'd recommend the it. Playing around as, and experimenting with, different Kirby mainstays is a ton of fun. Getting to control Chef Kawasaki, for example, is unique and spices up the gameplay. While I played the majority of the game in single-player, the sessions I had with my aunt and sister were easily the highlights of my playtime.
That isn't to say the game not fun in single-player, because it still is. However, it is fun by yourself the way New Super Mario Bros. Wii is fun in multiplayer: enjoyable, but tacked on. The AI allies, who for the most part are mandatory, are simply (surprisingly enough) too good. They'll solve puzzles and defeat enemies for you, which leads to not having all that much to do. However, this allows you to easily experiment with the combination abilities. These range from rather simple, the Fire Sword, to more complex, Ice Curling. This is one of the strongest elements in Kirby: Star Allies, and I hope that this becomes a mainstay part of future Kirby titles. But, it is undeniable that the AI makes an easy game even easier, which is certainly a problem when the campaign can easily be beaten in mere hours.
That feeds into the biggest issue Kirby Star Allies has; a total lack of content. By the time the Switch got around to approximating my playtime (Where did the Activity Log go??) I was surprised to see that I had accumulated "five hours or more". That was so surprising to me because I'd done everything in the game. In less than ten hours I had played the campaign, every side mode, and the mini-games. This is a really tough sell, especially at sixty dollars. There is some replayability here; levels can be replayed to find hidden routes and to collect puzzle pieces, but this hardly feels substantial. The side modes are easily the best pieces of content in the game, with one being a new take on the traditional arena mode, and the other playing out as a time attack mode that sees you sprinting though a truncated campaign. These two are a lot of fun, and I can see myself returning to them from time to time. However, they won't sustain you for weeks on end, and wind up feeling like somewhat small distractions that can kill an hour or so at a time.
I got this game at a stressful time, as I was simultaneously leaving my vacation and returning to a tiring, day-to-day grind. So, I'd be remiss not to talk about how relaxing it was to run though the game, picking away at it over the course of a week. It was comfort food (not unlike a grilled cheese!) that allowed me to just tune out and enjoy some simple-minded fun. Hopping around, testing out new copy abilities, messing around with Dream Friends, and white-knuckling an incredible boss encounter with Void Termina was undeniable fun. Yet, it was shallow fun, and I've felt no compulsion to return to Star Allies now that I've done everything. The game is, frankly, rather mundane. This is more Kirby through and through. I don't regret my purchase because I really do like the Kirby series. Everything that I've enjoyed in past Kirby games is represented here, but HAL did not go very far beyond that. And, in some ways Star Allies feels like a step back from Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot. There is far less content here than past titles, and Star Allies features a shaky Ally gimmick that doesn't live up to the ideas in Kirby's 3DS outings. I really think that the 2D Kirby gameplay is tapped. There simply aren't any more compelling gameplay ideas to draw from. This is far from a new sentiment, but I believe that Kirby needs to move to 3D.
If Super Mario Odyssey proved one thing, it is that there is still a market for 3D platformers. Kirby would fit effortlessly into that space. Perhaps the game could be exploration based, more about finding treasure a la The Great Cave Offensive than simply getting from point A to point B. It could be an incredibly laid back collect-a-thon, in the vein of a Banjo-Kazooie. This would open up so many new possibilities that the 2D platformer doesn't. This is the natural extension of the Kirby gameplay; the fun has never been in simply blasting through the levels, it has been in careful exploration and experimentation. Kirby has gotten so stagnant, and transitioning into 3D is no longer a novel idea in my opinion, but a necessity. I don't think that HAL Labs could get away with another game in the Star Allies template. All that is left there is the plate. The sandwich has been eaten. Perhaps there is a bit of crust left behind, that that doesn't constitute another AAA outing. I'm rooting for the pink puffball, but it is hard to cheer for another by-the-numbers release.
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