It’s always a nice gesture when developers release new titles for a system that’s been replaced by a newer model, especially if the new model is backwards compatible. Kirby: Mass Attack is such a game; developed for the Nintendo DS when we’re almost celebrating the first birthday of the Nintendo 3DS.
Kirby: Mass Attack is another ‘untraditional’ Kirby game, although it’s getting harder to classify games into such stereotypical categories. It looks like a typical platformer but veers away from the normal recipe by removing a key element – button inputs. That’s right! Kirby: Mass Attack is controlled using only the stylus and the bottom touch screen of the DS.
In this game Kirby is split into ten smaller instances of himself by an evil villain called Necrodeus. You start out with one Kirby and every time you eat 100 fruit another Kirby joins your team. You’re limited to a maximum of 10 Kirbys and two hits to a Kirby will turn him into a ghost that’s heading for the sky. If you can grab onto the ascending Kirby in time you can bring him back for another go – it’s all a bit creepy if you ask me…
Kirby Mass Attack
Your swarm of Kirbys will follow the stylus around to the best of their capabilities. This forms the basis of the control system. You can also ‘flick’ your Kirbys around which allows them to get over tall obstacles or, if you have enough Kirbys at your disposal, you can let them hang onto levers or items in the sky and allow their combined weight to bring it to the ground.
To attack enemies you simply tap them and let your pink minions do their thing. If you’ve only got one or two Kirbys big enemies might shake them off. You then gather them all together again and give it another go – gradually decreasing the HP of the enemy with every attempt.
Don’t let the simplicity of the control scheme fool you – the level design will have you frantically tapping the screen to ensure your Kirbys survive. The developers came up with some pretty interesting and unique things to do with your Kirbys, like turning the level into a pinball machine and using your Kirbys as the balls.
The game has a great way of reusing skills you learned in previous levels. It’ll start by teaching you a basic gameplay concept like how to remove a giant turnip from the ground. During that level you’ll encounter a few more giant turnips but will need to do something else before plucking them – like defeating an enemy or two.
The level will end and it would appear as if your newly acquired turnip-picking skills will go to waste – until a few worlds (and a couple of gameplay hours later). You’ll suddenly be confronted with a giant carrot that’s plugged into a wall. When you stop to consider it as just another giant turnip you’ll try plucking it out – one of the worst things you could do.
As it turns out the carrot was actually the plug of a dam and you’ll be forced to complete the remainder of the level underwater. Silly game developers tricked us!
Kirby Mass Attack
While the levels are really creative and unique some of them can drag on without reason. It’s not uncommon to pass through a section where the only enemy is a wooden crate. While everybody prefers games that can keep you occupied for hours there should be a limit to the amount of “blank space” in the level design.
As you progress through the game you’ll unlock a hoard of minigames. These range from a simple ‘whack-the-mole’ game to a full scale RPG. The minigames are generally well received and the sheer amount of them will keep you busy for quite some time.
Kirby: Mass Attack is a pleasant twist on traditional platforming games. While it shows some resemblance to Kirby: Canvas Curse (2005) it has plenty of unique ideas that are well executed. There’s not much in terms of storyline but the staggering amount of content combined with the unique gameplay is reason enough to earn its place in all DS owner’s libraries.
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