Squeak Squad is great fun despite its shortcomings.
Well, Kirby Squeak Squad is Kirby's first true adventure on the Nintendo DS, and considering how great Kirby and the Amazing Mirror was on the GBA, it has some big shoes to fill... and the game almost fills them. Almost.
Amazing Mirror really was a high point in both the Kirby series and the GBA's lifetime. That game didn't just surpass its predacessor (Nightmare in Dreamland, the remake of the NES game Kirby's Adventure), it blew it away. It was a huge game with great controls, 9 huge worlds with many levels each to visit, tons of copy abilities, unlockables out the wazoo, support for up to four players via link cable, and most of all, a cool hub world akin to that of Mario 64, but you went through mirrors instead of paintings. Also, Amazing Mirror was totally non-linear, meaning you could unlock the worlds in any order, say 1-6-3-2-9-7-8-4-5 if you really wanted.
And though they both were developed by Hal Labs and Flagship (RIP), and though it's still alot of fun, Kirby Squeak Squad is missing alot of the things that made its predacessor such an amazing game. Maybe they thought that they could replace them with Squeak Squad's gimmicks.
But why am I rambling? On to Squeak Squad's story!
Like all Kirby games, Squeak Squad's story is pretty silly and very cute. The game starts just as Kirby is sitting down to have a snack: a delicious slice of strawberry shortcake. Just as he's about to dig in, a dark shape flies over the cake and steals it in a split second. Thinking it's the work of his archenemy, the greedy King Dedede, he runs off in the direction of his castle. To make a long story short, he gets there, pummels the poo out of him, discovers that it was a band of master theives known as the Squeaks that stole his cake and one of Dedede's treasure chests, and goes after them to get his cake back. It's even weirder than usual, in a good way.
Now for the gameplay. Like always, the core mechanics are great! The controls are near perfect, and the various copy abilities are a whole lot of fun to use. Whether they're classics like Sword, Fighter, and Fire, or the newcomers Metal, Bubble, and Animal, they're all better than ever. There's a large variety of moves for each one, just like in Kirby Super Star. There are even unlockable move scrolls for each of them that enhance the abilities greatly. How big are they? Let's just say that if you get the Sleep scroll, Sleep won't be totally useless.
The 'big new addition' to Squeak Squad are bubble powers. The inside of Kirby's bottomless tummy is put on the touch screen. You'll find various items encased in bubbles strewn around the levels. When you touch one, it will be relegated to one of the five slots in Kirby's stomach. If you tap one of the bubbles, the ability or food item will be used. If they're all taken, you'll need to either use one or *shudder* barf one back up. Chests are also stored in Kirby's stomach (?!!). Overall, it's kind of a cute and interesting addition, but it adds needless inventory management to the game and it can sometimes get in the way of the action. Also, you'll usually find the appropriate creature with the ability you need to get through a certain environment puzzle near said puzzle, so the power storing is made even less useful than it was.
There are also the Squeaks. Throughout the level, you'll collect treasure chests with special goodies inside. At the end, you'll find a big, ornate looking chest with a bigger goodie inside, such as a secret area key or a piece of the ghost medal that, when completed, will give you the Ghost ability that lets you control enemies! When you pick the chest up, a main member of the Squeaks will come by with a ton of his henchman, and some building will be set up. You then need to either beat up the boss guy or escape them. If you are hit by any enemy in that specific area, you will drop one of your chests, usually the big one first, and one of the squeaks can pick it up, and if you don't hit them first, they take it back to one of the buildings that they set up, and you have to go in there and defeat them. It's poses a bigger challenge than most of the game, and the Squeaks can yield some good abilities, but the constant dropping of treasure chests can is more of an annoyance than a true challenge.
Remember when I said that alot of the stuff that was in Amazing Mirror is not in Squeak Squad? Well, the hub world has been replaced by a conventional world map, making the game almost totally linear. The multiplayer has been reduced to the sub games (and as such the three other Kirbies are gone), and some abilities such as the amazing Smash are missing. Not that you would need to, as the game is pretty easy. The bosses, while they may look pretty cool, are pretty easy. Heck, even the last boss is a total cakewalk compared to the epic battle against Dark Mind at the end of Amazing Mirror. And, yes, Meta Knight fans, Kirby's cloaked, sword wielding rival is one of the bosses, even though he isn't very difficult.
Also, the game is very short. The 8 worlds have only about 5 or 6 short levels each, including a boss fight. Because of this, the game can be beaten in 6 or 7 hours. That makes me very sad, especially considering how fun the game can be. As I said earlier, the copy abilities are a hoot. And the main quest, as short, easy, and linear as it is, is quite fun. But the sub games? As throwawayish as ever.
Oh, I almost forgot the unlockables. They're still quite good, with the Ghost Medal and the Boss Battle mode (forgot its exact name, darn it all!) being the coolest, though the boss battles in this game are easier than in past games in the Kirby series.
Now for the graphics and sound. Well, there really isn't much to say. They're exactly like those of Amazing Mirror, which were exactly like those of Nightmare in Dreamland, which only improved slightly over those of Kirby Super Star for the SNES. Not that that's a bad thing; the graphics engine is quite nice and colorful, and the music sounds very good.
Overall, Squeak Squad is great fun despite its shortcomings. It definitely suffers from being too easy, too short, and too linear, but that doesn't stop it from being worth a purchase. If you consider yourself a Kirby fan and you don't have this game, add it to your collection. You have nothing to lose. If you're looking for a game without blood and guns, you should also pick this one up. It's probably pretty cheap now, too, so if you don't have either of the GBA Kirby games, you could probably pick those up along with this game for a total under 50 dollars. And for DS owners in general, the game is worth a weekend rental at least.
Thank you for taking your time to read this review.