Harpy Reviews Kirby Mass Attack

Woo, boy. I just got done with this game and MAN, it was a doozy! And it will still be a doozy trying to 100% it! BRRR.

And now, its time to rip this apart.

Kirby Mass Attack is a puzzle platformer in which you, the player, get to abuse flick up to ten kirbies around using your almighty stylus. You use them to solve puzzles and beat the living crap out of enemies. Also, if you hate Kirby's "poyos," don't get this game. You will HATE it. Because "POYO POYO POY POY POY."

Basically, Kirby is snoozing in a field one day when this douche named Necrodeus (hahaha, corpse god. I see what you did there, HAL) swoops in. He wants to, as most dark, scaaary villains do, drown the world in darkness. So he screws Kirby over by zapping him with his staff and splitting him into ten, which only had 1/10th of his original power. Then he fucking kills nine of them. Like a douche.

Thank god Sarah isn't involved in this. Otherwise the game would have been over before it even started!

He's about to zap the last kirby when OH LOOK A STAR! It happened to be Kirby's heroic heart! Or spirit! Whatever, it's a plot device! It leads the kirby to safety, and then our epic adventure starts!

Yeah, if you're trying to look for a "WTFEPIC" plot here, I'm gonna have to ask you to GET OUUUUT

The main two mechanics are flying your kirbies to safety (pressing an area and gathering them up in a bubble, then dragging them around) and flinging them (tap a kirby and flick your stylus).  You will be using these two a lot if you want to get past this game. The kirbies can pull out turnips, knock down trees,  swim underwater like fast little buggers, and other things! If you have enough kirbies, you can get other goodies, too!

There is plenty to collect, too: Medals. Lots of them. They unlock little minigames in the Extras section, which are a BLAST to play through. Well, some of them anyway. There's a timing game along the line and its jolly good fun. Lots of cameos, too... and Canon Immigrants from the anime! Yay!

The graphics are pretty good here. Its all cutesy, reflecting the peaceful and dreamy... well, Dream Land.  Pretty good music, too! Air Ride lovers will recognize a few mixes of Air Ride songs tossed in, so be aware! Necrodeus's theme is creepy, though. Its like what you get when you combine a skeleton and a clown togethe-

Oh. Skelly. from Chrono Cross.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa- *bzzzt*

Okay, so that is creeepy. Very catchy, though!

Onto gameplay! Some people will complain about the lack of copy abilities and floating. And to them, I say... wait a few more days. Return to Dream Land is coming out soon, dagnabbit. For what its worth, hot damn this game. Every level has its own particular gimmick, so you're not stuck in doing the exact same thing over and ooover again. There is always something new to do and more to collect. The bosses are pretty fun, too. There's a balance of difficulty, unlike some. The levels start off as easy, then progressively get harder and harder as you go along. Also, autoscroll. It will squish your kirbies and kill them all. ALL OF THEM.

Only problem I see is that your kirbies can die easily to just about anything remotely dangerous. Pink kirbies that take a hit turn blue; a hit to a blue kirby and that kills 'em. You can always drag their souls back with the other kirbies, but you can kiss your silver (or gold) star goodbye. And even then, they come back as blue rather than pink.

Oh yeah, there's always a great challenge. See if you can collect ALL of the medals in each and every level and clear it with no Kirbies damaged at all (basically that nets you a gold star). Complete each and every checklist item. I DARE YOU.

All in all, this game is buckets of fun and has quite a bit of replay value. At least, if you're a perfectionist. Or maybe because you just like playing through your favorite levels again. Its good for just about everybody, and its a perfect way to end the dying DS's game line. I give this a 9/10. Not absolutely perfect (sometimes you might have trouble flicking your kirbies), but pretty close.

I managed to clock in 36 hours on my first go, and collected 114 Kirbies along the way. (You can only keep 10, but a lot of kirbies die. A lot. Along the way. ) And of all the kirbies that were knocked out, I saved 288 of them. Yay~

                                                              Kirby be pickin up chicks. Also, hi Blue Kirby!

                                             AAAAAAAAAH JUMBO KIRBIES. SO MANY