Difficulty:

Very Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Worth the wait"

The main concept of a Kirby game is certainly a simplistic one. Have a pink ball of whatever he is scrolling from one end of the screen to the next, but complete with the ability to steal the powers of his enemies. Though having found a secure spot with the handheld market on the DS, there is a question of how to introduce Nintendo's unique creation to the mainstream console market. In fact with as many iterations on far more limiting hardware, would a next-gen Kirby game be capable of taking advantage of new capabilities on the Wii? It actually does manage to be the case when asking about the nature of Kirby's new game, Kirby's EPIC Yarn. Just manage to keep track of how many times it's possible to call this game not epic, but EPIC!

Stories in a Kirby game, or a Nintendo game at all for that matter, have never been much of a strong point, and despite having the word, "EPIC" in the title, Epic Yarn doesn't manage to break that mold. The basic premise is that Kirby finds a tomato one day and decides to eat it, revealing the main antagonist of the game, the sorcerer Yin-Yarn. With his magic powers, Yin-Yarn banishes Kirby into a sock that transports him to Patch Land, the land completely made of fabric. Despite the sudden change in environment however Kirby quickly befriends a new character for the Kirby universe, Prince Fluff. Fluff explains that Patch Land has been separated into pieces that were once held together by a magic yarn that held the world together. It's now up to Kirby to find these lost pieces of yarn and sow the world of Patch Land back together and face Yin-Yarn against his own game.

The story is pretty much as simplistic as you might have guessed, being appropriately told through the use of a storybook and a narrator. Despite the lack of particularly serious storytelling, the story does make up for everything with its presentation values. Characters Kirby veterans are familiar with all manage to make their appearance at one point and the new ones manage to get their screen time as well. Not only in terms of characters, but also in terms of atmosphere that achieves everything the Kirby universe is well known for.

The first thing you might obviously recognize is the graphical style the game has taken. You might see screenshots of the game, but the game in actual movement is something very special. Of course if the graphic style was everything EPIC Yarn had going for it, it certainly wouldn't be something worth mentioning. One of the best things that GoodFeel managed to implement into their game is how the idea of yarn manages to integrate itself into every aspect of the game from unlocking new worlds to making parts of the environments change with Kirby's new powers. Along with a unique look for the game, there are really no graphical issues to speak of, there's basically no screen tearing and the frame rate only dips every once in a while when there's so much going on that it's practically impossible to achieve.

If you're worried that Kirby has taken any drastic changes in the sound department, there's definitely nothing in this department to get concerned about. The sound effects and music serve as part of an appropriate Kirby feel and never manage to have any real problems. The most voice acting that can be found is on the part of the Kirby making the occasional, "Hiii!", or "oomph!" or other such sound effects, and the other effort comes from the narrator who narrates the story of what goes on in the game. He does sound like one of those narrators that tries to be a little too nice to his target audience, but it was probably the target feel anyway.

With everything that has been hinted at in Kirby's new adventure, you might be curious in whether or not the game changes that drastically from the typical Kirby gameplay. The gameplay is truly the part of the game that manages to prove that there isn't just a pretty face to compensate for everything that Kirby's EPIC Yarn manages to be. On the surface with the game being a 2D side-scroller, you might think there's not much of a change, but the first thing that you'll find implied by the beginning of the story is that fact that Kriby can no longer suck in enemies to take their powers. Without the identifying feature that makes a Kirby game what it is, you might wonder, "Does the game have enough to remain a Kirby game?"

It actually does. Not only in terms of being a side-scroller, but also in terms of the straight forward level design and the transformations that Kirby does for the highlight of some levels. There are points where he changes into a UFO, a rocket, a dolphin, a train, or an unstoppable rocket launching tank. Every one of these transformations manage to spice up the gameplay and offer something new for players to keep wondering what there is to witness next until the ending.

In terms of trying to play the game, there is really nothing wrong with the controls department. Kirby is responsive and the main idea of how to change into a speeding car or how to unravel the enemies of Patch Land. Though Kirby no longer takes powers from enemies, the level design manages to feel right enough to make it not feel as though it was entirely needed.

Of course Kirby's latest journey isn't perfect, really in the instance of what difficulty manages to remain, if any to speak of really. There is no death in the game whether Kirby runs into an enemy or falls off a cliff and into a pit. The most penalty comes from losing the gems that Kirby must gather in order to unlock certain secrets, so it can be somewhat important to avoid taking any damage. Overall the difficulty isn't really much of a change for the franchise seeing that Kirby games aren't well known for being hard either. Does this mean that it's only a child friendly game though? Epic Yarn actually does manage to appeal to more dedicated players by offering more exploration to a gamer's experience. Overall, you can play through the game without any issue, but completionists will have something to aim for when trying to have their fun with the game.

If you find yourself as more of a goal oriented gamer, then Kirby's latest adventure will take only about 6 hours to beat and possibly less if you manage to dedicate a great deal of skill to it. If you're willing to allow some time for exploration in the game however, the game time will manage to double, allowing players to get their full money's worth out of the game. There's really very little wrong with Kirby's EPIC Yarn to complain about and overall manages to be a terrific new entry for the franchise. Anyone who is interested in having some old-school platforming but with some new changes and an enchanting atmosphere, won't go wrong with a game that has basically lived up to being… As you might have guessed by now, EPIC!