Review: Kirby Star Allies

Once platformers about Kirby - a pink ball with legs - were a model of creativity. Almost in every new part we were offered a stunning idea: the hero was taught to enemy abilities, then he began to saddle the beast-assistants, then all the gameplay was based on drawing, then the genre was changed dramatically to "metro". But in recent years, HAL Laboratory , the permanent guardian of the series, seems tired. Two years ago, Kirby Planet Robobot  was too similar to its predecessor. And the fresh Kirby Star Allies, exclusive to Nintendo Switch, takes too much from Kirby's Adventure , which appeared on the Wii.Before us is a two-dimensional arcade, into which you can play immediately the four of us. The plot is almost there - we just save the planet from evil coming from outer space. Kirby, as always, knows how to devour opponents and get their abilities. Ate snowman - please use ice attacks. Eaten the knight - so we can cut the enemy with a sword and mow the grass, where valuable stars are hidden. The only serious innovation - now you can "zafrendit" the enemy, and he will run along with the hero. Any of the recruits is managed by either a computer or a live partner, you can connect and disconnect friends at any time.

In addition, the abilities are combined. The fiery comrade gives the strength of the elements to the swordfighter, and he can easily cut down and immediately set fire to a bomb suspended to the ceiling to open the passage to the secret door. On such an interaction all unpretentious puzzles are built. The child can also solve them. And indeed the whole design was clearly made for the youngest. Milestones are very linear, opponents do not pose a threat, "bosses" are killed by your team at times almost without Kirby's intervention, life is poured out like a cornucopia. Those who are five years old may like this, but if you are accustomed to "Challenging" - look for it elsewhere. 

For a variety of HAL Laboratorystill trying to do something. Sometimes our gang divides, and one pair goes along the path at the top of the screen, the other - at the bottom. Sometimes the characters get on a special platform and turn into one of three or four "friendly" items. For example, in the Wheel of Friends, which rolls forward, knocking through walls. A Star of Friends gives the opportunity to literally soar into the sky and turns the platformer into a sort of scrolling shooter, though not at all hardcore. And besides ordinary rascals, such powerful heroes as the king-penguin Dididi and the living brush of Vidvirya can fill up the ranks of the world's rescuers - with them it becomes very easy to destroy everything around.

Those who think that all of the above features are quite diverse and original, clearly did not see the previous part of the series. There are no new ideas in Star Allies , and everything that is is not really needed, because the game turned out to be incredibly simple and primitive. I deliberately passed a couple of levels, almost not participating in the action - and it turned out: computer partners easily deal with all the obstacles. 

But if you get down to business with friends or with children, then simplicity and primitiveness become less noticeable. Chaos, which creates a monster of monsters, becomes a little more understandable, support becomes meaningful, and generally becomes fun. True, why this did not fasten the ability to connect comrades online - it is unclear.

The short storyline campaign ends in five or six hours and does not leave much room for gathering. It can be seen that they made the project in a hurry: there are only four worlds, two of them are absolutely standard for the Kirby universe, and another one is a hodgepodge of raznochorennyh, but banal planets (fire, ice, water, underground - the authors did not include fantasy). Even parts with 3DS lasted two times longer and offered more original places of action.
But, fortunately, there are also additional modes, which can increase the time in the company Kirby once in two or three. They are four or two open only after the campaign, two more are available immediately. But with all there are certain problems - again on the creative side. 

Available immediately fun clearly designed to ensure that gamers remembered about the motion control with the controller Joy-Con, and turned out to be too single-celled. In one case, you need to save the planet from the falling meteor, beating it with a baseball bat. This is a normal baseball in the manner of Wii Sports , where we only need to swing and hit in time. One has nothing to do here at all, but with friends the regime will carry away a maximum of half an hour.

The second option of entertainment is to work as a logger. Here it is necessary not just to wave the controller, but also in time to dodge from the caterpillars living on trees. It turned out a little more interesting. However, when compared with mini-games from old parts, this couple just does not deserve a separate edition, as it was, for example, with Dedede Drum Dash and Kirby Fighters from Kirby Triple Deluxe .
Two more modes are completely classic. This is a traditional passage for an alternative hero, that is, in our case only for enemies, without Kirby. Here you can take any character except the three secret ones, and the levels and even individual mechanics are slightly changed in comparison with the usual campaign. It's quite an option to return to the favorite game, but will the game itself like it before it? Finally, as always, the pink ball can fight right away with a bunch of "bosses" in hellish confrontation. It is important that you will not have partners, and the number of opponents can be chosen before the start of the fight. An interesting test of abilities, if not for the general simplicity of the enemy leaders themselves.
What, perhaps, helps HAL , so this is the technical level of performance. Graphics here are the best in the series - that in a stationary, that in a portable mode. Everything is very colorful, bright, good-natured - preschoolers will be delighted. In some places, in a few screensavers, Kirby is difficult to distinguish from a quality cartoon. True, there is no 60 frames per second, but below 30 the frequency does not drop - everything moves smoothly, even when the screen is filled with wild flashes of special effects. If you take the general level of the console and generally platformers on portable systems, then this one is one of the best.

The soundtrack also turned out to be wonderful. Music is very well suited to the mess on the screen, it is very "lightweight", but is remembered and makes you come back to the game even when its levels can not be tightened. Therefore, I highly recommend not to disconnect the sound even in the "portable" - you will get a little more pleasure.

Rate: 7/10