Review: Kirby: Triple Deluxe (3DS)

Ring them bells, Kirby!

If ever there was a character that stands for unbridled and dangerous consumerism, it's Kirby. The pink, cheery little puff-ball, consumes anything and everything (preferably living things). The unrepentant bastard inhales bug creatures no more threatening than a houseplant then has the temerity to absorb their power to fit to his own dark whims. So, no matter how cute, pink or cartoony the action is, the game continually reminds the player that given enough time, Kirby could consume the universe...

...and never once think about going to the bathroom.

Consumerism will undoubtedly destroy us all!

If one can overlook the darker underpinnings of Kirby: Triple Deluxe, there's a happy little platformer to explore, with the exception of the bosses, which feature sharp difficulty curves. This fact becomes extremely apparent when Kirby's tasked with running a gauntlet of bosses prior the final encounter. It was so bad at one point, this reviewer snapped his 3DS shut and briefly considered throwing it into the nearest body of water. Of course, then I'd have to buy another 3DS and that would feel like some kind of meta-commentary on consumerism and I wasn't about to let Nintendo have the last laugh on that one.

Incredibly, there's actually an entire mode dedicated to waves of boss battles. If the player wants that kind of frustration and pain it might be easier and much faster to decide to break your left thumb with a sledge hammer. It may also be about as fun.

The sinuous strands between boss battles are good stuff. There's a great mix of platforming and puzzle solving, sometimes at the same time. The game runs along three planes -- that's the only reason I can think of for the "Triple Deluxe" subtitle -- but Kirby spends most of the time in the middle plane. Enemies attack from the foreground and background (and head-on) and throughout the game Kirby needs to flip to the background at specific locations to complete certain actions, solve puzzles, or collect an item. Maybe the most clever use of this are levels that feature a giant mirror that reflects the reality in main plane. While the path appears clear, the background reveals a pit of spikes and ghostly enemies coming toward Kirby. Or it shows platforms to other objectives.

The foreground stuff is mostly reserved for smashing Kirby into the screen. It really "pops!" with the 3D effect turned on and it's the first game in a while where I've preferred playing that way.

Other puzzle highlights mostly centre on Kirby's inhalation abilities: Roll a snowman's head, pull some a mobile laser to melt some ice, get a propeller spinning, tear open the level, etc. Players will also need to make use of the 3DS motion controls to slide things around on the screen or tip over bowls of water. Give most of the puzzles a little thought and they're simple to overcome.

The main thread through the single player game is to collect enough stars in the stages leading up to the boss fight. The pattern repeats until the main game is over and Dedede Tour opens up.

This fruit turns Kirby into a pink black hole. Space-time is not safe!

For those unfamiliar, Dedede is a big duck/penguin with floating abilities like Kirby, but Dedede's main form of attack is his hefty hammer which changes up how each level is played. The navigation of the levels is also different and the focus is on getting through the game as fast as possible. No doubt it extends play but it also showcases just how badly the game peters out toward the end. It's as if all the good and interesting ideas just ran out in the lead-up to the final boss and instead threw all the sub-bosses in the player's path.

Kirby Fighters and Dedede's Drum Dash offer some additional distraction.

Kirby Fighters is like a Kirby-only version of Nintendo's fighting game, Smash Bros., right down to the mid-match power-ups and arenas that want to kill you. With actual players, this turns into a good time but against the computer, even when it's three-on-one, isn't much of a challenge and I quickly lost interest with it. The rhythm of Dedede's Drum Tour is a mini-game without much in the way of substance.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe offers a light-hearted platforming romp, which will certainly appeal to a younger audience, and more than few times I commented out loud, "Well, that's clever," to no one in particular, the boss fights are bit of a poke in the eye and there's not a lot to draw a player back unless they get hooked on collecting the huge number of keychain collectibles or have a couple of friends to challenge in Kirby Fighters. If nothing else, it may be a gateway through which you can approach your children about consumerism, pros and cons.

- Aaron Simmer
Follow @EmpireArmchair

The Good:
- A light-hearted platformer romp
- Easy to get into
- Puzzles are just the right difficulty
- Kirby Fighters is basically a Kirby-only version of Smash Bros.
- The 3D really pops

The Bad:
- Boss fights are irritating and repeated often!
- Not much of a reason to go back to the game after the single player modes are done