I’ve written before that I’m not terribly pleased with Nintendo’s direction on the latest Kirby title for the DS. Of course, as it happens Nintendo heard my concerns and went about creating one of the greatest Kirby games in years if not decades. So truthfully I could care less what happens to Kirby Mass Attack. Still, that’s not any reason not to give the game a try.

Curiously, Kirby Mass Attack didn’t really have its own booth. There were one or two demonstration units strapped to Nintendo hostesses, who for the most part asked people in line for Wii U if they wanted to try it. Unless one of them was to approach you, there’s a good chance you’d never even know the game was there.

Kirby Mass Attack follows the theme of other Kirby titles in the past few years where some evil entity comes to Kirby’s world, casts a spell on Kirby that gives him a curious attribute, and then Kirby must use that attribute to combat against said evil entity. In this case, the villain splits Kirby into multiple Kirbys (actually that sounds kind of familiar), which is just great. Make more of the guy who’s going to beat you. Kirby’s villains have about the same proficiency as James Bond’s villains, they’re just a lot more adorable.

As you’d expect, Kirby Mass Attack is entirely touch screen controlled. Kirby will go towards wherever you press on the screen, and he’ll interact with anything he comes into contact with. To make progress you must find fruit, and lots of it, which is strewn about stages and dropped by enemies. Consuming fruit fills up a meter on the top screen, and every time it hits 100 you’re blessed with another Kirby. The meter keeps rolling over, and you can have up to ten of the cream puffs at once.

Having many Kirbys quickly becomes necessary. There are many items and obstacles you can’t interact with if you don’t have enough. Thus, a bit of backtracking in stages becomes necessary, returning to previous areas when you have more Kirbys. Since managing multiple Kirbys at once can be a little troublesome, you can hold down on the pack with your stylus to make them clump together, then draw a line outward which they follow. You can only draw the line so far, though. It’s also possible to flick the Kirbys at things one at a time. Occasionally, you’ll also have the Kirbys tugging on something, which makes an “effort button” appear that you need to continually tap.

Trying to keep your Kirbys safe can be a bit of a pain. Since there’s no direct combat, the Kirbys will just jump onto any enemy they come into contact with and start pummeling it. Larger enemies require more Kirbys to take down effectively, and can damage and kick off you Kirbys if their efforts aren’t enough. Even more tricky is trying to navigate your Kirbys around precariously placed spikes and the like. You lose points on the top screen meter as they’re damaged, and after enough abuse they can perish, with a little sad looking Kirby angel floating away. This will break your heart, guaranteed.

To tell you the truth, I really enjoyed Kirby Mass Attack more than I expected I would. It’s still a bit slow and plodding compared to a regular Kirby game, since you’re always having to manage your Kirbys appropriately and it’s not entirely in your control. But there are enough interesting aspects and gimmicks that seem to keep it interesting, and the game still has a bit of charm. I have to agree with what Adam Milecki said in the last podcast; it does come off a lot like a 2D platforming Pikmin.

Kirby Mass Attack is set to release on September 19th for the Nintendo DS. That’s actually around the same time I was told that Kirby Wii is coming out. I hope some signals didn’t get crossed there.

Tags: 3DS, E3 2011, hands-on impressions, Kirby Mass Attack, Nintendo, platformer, preview, puzzle

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