Before I begin this review proper, I would like to state that I, like many people, was fairly skeptical when I first saw the E3 trailer. “He can’t fly…and he doesn’t absorb enemies and gain their powers…what happened to Kirby?” My exact thoughts. Even though he couldn’t absorb powers, he could at least fly in his video game debut, Kirby’s Dream Land, and power absorption has been a primary aspect of most all Kirby releases to date, even his appearances in the Smash series. So even though I was skeptical about it being a Kirby game at heart, I figured it’d be a fun game to play through, so without further rambling…

The story starts out in storybook fashion. The evil sorcerer of the week, Yin-Yarn, has managed to trick Kirby into his…knitting sock portal. Yeah. Anyway, Kirby soon discovers he’s made completely of yarn, and soon meets Prince Fluff, the “Kirby” character of this new Patch Land, a brother dimension to Kirby’s own Dream Land. The very fabric of this world has been deteriorated by the evil magic of Yin-Yarn, and Kirby must aid Prince Fluff to restore its former, er, patchiness, by obtaining pieces of the mystical Magic Yarn. Yeah. Hope you didn’t expect too much depth in the story, not that it really needs it. Anyway, Kirby starts out in Patch’s castle, and soon meets some new friends along the way. One of whom, a very Tom Nook-like character, gives Kirby his own space that he can decorate, and also charges him with the task of decorating other pads for new customers with items found in the stages. Of course, there are some familiar “friend-enemy” characters to be seen, but that’s later in the game, and could be classified as spoilers…but there are two characters that you can expect to find when Kirby’s involved. So fans of them (and their themes!) will be pleased.

Of course, the story isn’t the primary point of this game. As Kirby discovers he’s made of yarn, he also discovers his typical method of inhaling doesn’t quite work in this new world. Kirby handles quite differently in this game, with a basic control scheme most easily compared to Gooey from Kirby’s Dream Land 3. Instead of constant inhaling, Kirby reaches his yarn-made arm out to reach for an enemy. Tapping the button simply unravels the foe; holding it, however, causes Kirby to bundle the foe up and carry him. An additional press of the button will throw the bundle of enemy yarn in the direction specified, destroying other enemies or blocks impeding Kirby’s path. Instead of puffing up and flying, jumping in the air will cause Kirby to turn into a balloon that hovers slowly to the ground. If there’s an air current, however, this form can indeed fly. Instead of running, pressing left or right twice will transform Kirby into a fast-moving car. Pressing down in the air will turn Kirby into his signature Stone form, crushing enemies below. Some items in the stages can transform Kirby into other forms, some new and some old. Kirby has a newly designed UFO form, but can also turn into a missile-launching tank, a dolphin, an off-roader, and more, all depending on what the situation calls for. Kirby can also launch his arms to grab hold of many objects through the land, be it stringed balls that Kirby can swing from, to zippers that allow him to “unzip” a part of a structure in order to provide access, and pulleys that, sometimes temporarily, move a part of land over, again providing safe access across.

Each world consists of a minimal number of stages followed by a boss battle. Each stage has multiple collectibles to obtain within it. First of all, completion of the stage alone grants Kirby a new patch to throw onto the world map, opening a new stage. In addition, there are three treasure items to find (many of which are actually in treasure boxes; some, however, are placed in the open), as well as a medal system (the more gems you obtain, the higher your medal score). This is where the difficulty lies, however. When Kirby gets hurt, be it by enemies, falling into lava or gaps, or anything at all, he doesn’t have actual health or lives that he loses. Instead, he loses gems that can be picked up again, provided they don’t fall into an inaccessible trap or void (if Kirby falls into what would normally result in a loss of a life, an angelic piece of yarn comes onto the screen and rescues him, placing on a nearby patch of land). These gems are vital to obtaining the highest score possible, and the gold medal. For boss battles, there is a medal level higher than the gold; this “Platinum” rank will provide Kirby with an additional patch used to open up a bonus level within the current world and continue full world completion. Granted, this game’s difficulty comes almost entirely in the form of 100% completion, and even then, given a little searching, even the most inexperienced of gamers can find this game fun without much frustration.

Considerable praise must be given solely to the art direction. This is a Wii game, and it automatically enables it to get bashed by all the HD console fanboys, but this plays it off just fine. Graphics that don’t need to be HD to be awe-inspiring and, dare I say it (as it’s literally the first time I’ve used this word for video game graphics), breathtaking. The way the yarn unravels, folds up, to even the way the world maps expand after applying a patch from completing a stage. In other aesthetics, the music is also amazing, and quite varied, although if there’s one constant, it’s that the music is very soothing, the kind of music you could actually sleep to. Much classical, but there’s some soft instrument variation thrown in on certain level environments. Combine that with the familiar Kirby noises and style, and you’ve got one aesthetically pleasing game. This shouldn’t surprise anyone, though. Not only is this a Kirby game, but I mean, even the developer’s name is “Good-Feel”. It’s -really- hard to just not feel at ease while playing this game. That’s one of the primary appeals. It is not frustrating, at all. It’s a very fun game through and through, -and- it’s pleasing to the senses.

Despite the complete lack of it in the game, there may be a little difficulty truly justifying the price tag of $50 on the fact that even a 100% run of the game will not last you any more than 8 hours, 10 tops if you’re just really having a hard time finding the collectibles. There is some limited replay value in that the game can be run in multiplayer mode, similar to older Kirby games, and to a certain extent, Brawl’s Subspace Emissary (the first player, Kirby, “leads” the camera; the second player, Fluff, will automatically teleport to Kirby if he falls behind), in addition to just going through the game again just because it’s just that fun (trust me, it is), or of course to go back and get the collectibles and medals you may have missed the first time. It’s a short game, but let’s face it. It’s still twice as long as a shooter campaign, -and- it’s Kirby. No edginess here. Just a feeling of smiley faces swirling through your body, with all the rainbows and happiness this side of Dream Land has to offer.