KIRBY STAR ALLIES. NINTENDO SWITCH ANALYSIS!

KIRBY STAR ALLIES. NINTENDO SWITCH ANALYSIS!

Nintendo's hottest character comes back with fresh ideas

It has been 26 years since Masahiro Sakurai  presented in society what would become one of the most important visible heads in the history of Nintendo , we speak as not the most "cuqui" of the place:  Kirby . The Japanese creator, father of other more modern sagas such as Smash Bros , has had an objective with this small and dreary pink ball since its inception: reach the maximum amount of public possible.

This is why the games of the Kirby saga have always been characterized by their accessibility and never by being complex or difficult games. To give you an idea the first title of the saga only had four levels, something that the developer explained at the time ensuring that his intention was to create " a game that could end any person ." It was indeed like that. Kirby has never been a champion of the difficulty, but on the contrary if it has been imagination, presenting in all its titles fresh ideas with great impact on the gameplay and offering above all a fun proposal for everyone.

Since then the character has had a presence in all the consoles of the great N , both in the form of spin offs and own titles. It was hoped that sooner or later something would come for our beloved Nintendo Switch and, indeed, today we finally have the pleasure of giving you our opinion about Kirby Star Allies .

A game designed for all audiences

After an inspired adventure in Wii U , Kirby returns trying to resume its origins in many aspects. Kirby Star Allies is a platform game with aesthetics in three dimensions that develops in a lateral scroll 2D (the classic of the genre) and that makes the characteristic skill of its protagonist its biggest asset.

For those who are more lost in the subject, the main skill of this little one is to copy the abilities of his enemies. We could say that it is a kind of super-powerful Ditto with extra abilities as useful as flying or swallowing practically anyone who gets in front of it and then spit it out in a star shape. Each enemy we clone gives Kirby a different aesthetic and gives him new skills that we can use at will , although this time our protagonist has received a new and curious power: befriend their enemies.

With this special addition the abilities of the character multiply, since now we can not only use the skill we clone, but we can also use it in combination with another friend's. As you can imagine the amount of possibilities is quite high, inviting the player to play and experiment within the space of possibilities offered by the title . It is undeniable that we have spent a lot of time witnessing the dozens of possibilities that invite us to discover the game, being able to recruit up to three allies that will accompany us in single file across the stage and that, in addition, we can change at any time.

Kirby Star Allies is a direct and fun game, without too much pretension. It does practically no emphasis on its history and is shown as pure fun, so much so that the title adds a series of mini-games to play alone or in company as well as giving us the ability to play in local multiplayer at any time of the game without need to delve into menus. As always Sakurai wanted , with  Kirby we can all enjoy.

The level design of the game is more spectacular than inspired, since except for some surprise all scenarios are completed moving to the right and without many complications or too much loss. Momentarily leaving aside that graphically is a beautiful game, perhaps we have missed more variety between levels, with some startle or obstacle that changes the linearity that completely permeates the development of the adventure.

I'm going to be frank: Kirby Star Allies is a fun game, but it's played alone. With this I do not come to say that we do not have to do anything, rather I mean that the game strives so that no one at any time of the adventure feels frustrated. As we said at the beginning of the text  the pretensions of this  pink bug are to access a larger audience, but at this point it is legitimate to stop and think if it will be a wise attitude to do this at the expense of denying a better experience to the public more veteran in this leisure.

Advancing in Kirby Star Allies is motivating because we know that each time we will find more different enemies with which to test our arsenal in curious and ingenious ways, but on the other hand the game does not ask for a single effort in the almost 10 hours of its duration. main story Basically we advance, discover, test and follow. So much so that even the secrets "hidden" in each level are tremendously marked and even it seems difficult not to realize that they are there, so if we skip something, the most likely is that we have missed a jump or selected a wrong address during the course of the level.

I think it is necessary to emphasize the short duration of your main campaign (between 8-10 hours), something that has seemed a bit below what was expected and that can certainly throw back many of the people who are doubting whether to pay or not the € 50 that is worth approximately the title.

In any case, the game does not deceive anyone and what it offers is an adventure that shows great technical quality and some well thought out and substantially fun mechanics. There is no doubt that it is the freshness in its mechanics and multiplayer possibilities that make this an ideal proposal to enjoy with friends or family, although on the other hand it is also true that when it comes to enjoying it alone, it will surely stay a bit short.

A walk through the land of dreams

At the audio-visual level it is undeniable that Kirby Star Allies manages to surprise, enter us through the eyes and give a full heart to the hearts of the most nostalgic lovers of this character. Being honest, and leaving aside that all these moneries reach me deep inside, Kirby gets from the minute one that we have unstoppable desire to squeeze him strongly thanks to his tender figure and silent charisma.

The beautiful recreation of the scenarios, enemies and final bosses instantly make it one of the most colorful and round games that we can currently enjoy on Nintendo Switch. Technically works quite well and without drops to 30 fps in both the Dock and laptop, enjoying resolutions of 1080p and 720p respectively.

It may seem a bit weird that I did not manage to reach 60 fps like Mario Odyssey did at the time (game of a visibly bigger scale), but we are not going to say that this affects the gaming experience. The only downside that we have found in this section is the presence of load micro-screens . What are the micro screens of charge? Well, a term that I have coined right now and that I think fits what I try to explain. Let's see, the levels of Kirby are linear and divided into screens that section the level in small short sections that we will have to overcome by entering through small doors. The problem is that knowing that the game is running at 30 fpsand that the graphical load is not too important, it is somewhat uncomfortable to pass these gates we have to wait for 2-3 seconds to continue , something that slows the pace of the game and we believe could have been avoided giving full continuity to the course of each level.

As for the sound section, the game gives us what we expect from it, catchy and cheerful themes, with some winks to melodies from previous games and transmitting a good roll that we breathe sweetly , something  that seems to be a recurring weapon in Nintendo during this stage of optimal state of form.

Kirby Star Allies conclusions

The new adventure of this adorable little boy returns to the origins of the saga in virtually every way: short game, easy, fun and full of fresh ideas and very creative . Perhaps its short duration and the absence of challenges mean that older players are not willing to pay the price of the game or, directly, they are not attracted to the proposal. But the truth is that Kirby Star Allies is a game very well thought out, that adapts itself to the public and that pretends that we have a good time forgetting to be overwhelmed during the time we are at the controls. It is without a doubt one of the most beautiful games to watch on our Nintendo Switchin any of its game modes and, despite showing such a reduced duration, surely give to be replayed more than once. Now we just have to wait to meet again this cute character on the battlefield of ... Super Smash Bros !