05-05-2014, 11:30 PM
Oh boy, people have finally posted, now I can finally post some of my first impressions.
Expectedly, I bought the game immediately on the first day it came out. I could have probably easily beaten the whole game in one day, seeing as it's a Kirby game, but I've been playing only one world a night to stretch it out a bit. I've completed three worlds so far ... here are some of my random impressions:
- First of all, the game has a much better "feel" to it than Returns to Dream Land did. I can't really describe why; it might mostly have to do with the controller, I don't really know for sure. All I know is it feels way better to play.
- Compared to the Wii game, there is a noticable visual upgrade to the special effects of a lot of Kirby's powers, which is something I found to be a bit of a surprise because I thought they were pretty much just porting all the abilities as-is, and I definitely didn't expect the visual quality to increase from the Wii to the 3DS. Some really noticeable ones are Kirby's spark cap effect and the fire effects.
- While the abilities are mostly just ported over in-tact from the Wii, several abilities seem to have gotten some downgrades in that a move or two had been removed from their movepool. Don't mistake this for a bad thing, however. If you had read one of my earlier rants, I had mentioned that the biggest thing that was wrong with the Wii game was that each ability had too many things that it they could do allowing every ability to do virtually anything. The specific changes that they have made to the abilities seem to be pinpointing exactly that issue, returning back to giving each ability specific advantages and disadvantages, the way things SHOULD be. For example, Spark no longer has the puzzle-breaking vertical lightning bolt attacks.
- Needle no longer has its rolling dash attack, although it did gain a downward aerial thrust attack. It's needles can still be fired in all directions by mashing directions.
- In an effort to make the Sword ability even more Zelda-y, Kirby can now use the Skyward Strike. Holding the up direction briefly causes Kirby to raise his sword and charge it. Once charged you can move around freely, and the next time you use an attack you will fire a sword beam.
- Spear has lost its ability to charge its throw and launch three spears at once. This is not really a big deal though, since it is still probably the most awesome ability in the game.
- Stone's weird uppercut move can now be charged briefly for a stronger punch. I haven't seen any real new stone forms yet save for one statue featuring all three party members from the Wii game.
- Ninja no longer has the ability to explode when you press attack while receiving damage. Instead, if you guard with good timing, he turns into a log (or sometimes another random object). I think this was done for balancing issues, as Ninja is one of the abilities available in the Kirby Fighters minigame.
- Wheel ability now has a full moveset rather than just the ability to drive. They include a charging attack for a more rocket-powered start up, and a stomp move you can use in mid-air; which might prove useful for returning to earth if you've launched yourself too high on certain terrain.
- The new Circus ability is very tricky to use. Its main attack can easily put you in harm's way and your dash attack causes Kirby to pop into the air, which can cause you to completely miss your target. I think it was designed specifically to be a challenging ability to use; it will be interesting playing through the whole game with it later, I think.
- The bosses in this game are AWESOME. I've only fought three so far, but I think they might be some of the best non-final bosses in the entire Kirby franchise. At the very least, they are definitely the best Whispy and Kracko fights ever.
- I notice that, unlike the Wii game that had a lot of unique enemies, this game seems to focus a lot more on populating its world with more classic Kirby enemies, including many of which have never had 3D models before, such as Chippy or Grizzo.
- I really suck at Dedede's Drum Dash. I managed to get gold in the first song and silver in the second two, but I highly doubt I have the ability to unlock the fourth song; which you need gold in all three of the default songs to unlock. Either this game is really hard or I just have really really bad rhythm.
- I don't really have a single complaint with this game so far. The level designs are solid and the collectables strongly implore you to explore every inch of them. My only concern is that the Hypernova segments, which are not in every level, tend to run a little long. These segments are good, don't get me wrong, but my concern lies in when I start doing challenge runs like single-ability runs, that doing them repeatedly is going to get antagonistic. This is probably not a concern for most people though.
Sooooo ... yeah. What I've played of the game so far is a really great traditional Kirby platformer. If you like Kirby I think this is definitely one you're going to want to get your hands on; if not immediately than eventually.
Expectedly, I bought the game immediately on the first day it came out. I could have probably easily beaten the whole game in one day, seeing as it's a Kirby game, but I've been playing only one world a night to stretch it out a bit. I've completed three worlds so far ... here are some of my random impressions:
- First of all, the game has a much better "feel" to it than Returns to Dream Land did. I can't really describe why; it might mostly have to do with the controller, I don't really know for sure. All I know is it feels way better to play.
- Compared to the Wii game, there is a noticable visual upgrade to the special effects of a lot of Kirby's powers, which is something I found to be a bit of a surprise because I thought they were pretty much just porting all the abilities as-is, and I definitely didn't expect the visual quality to increase from the Wii to the 3DS. Some really noticeable ones are Kirby's spark cap effect and the fire effects.
- While the abilities are mostly just ported over in-tact from the Wii, several abilities seem to have gotten some downgrades in that a move or two had been removed from their movepool. Don't mistake this for a bad thing, however. If you had read one of my earlier rants, I had mentioned that the biggest thing that was wrong with the Wii game was that each ability had too many things that it they could do allowing every ability to do virtually anything. The specific changes that they have made to the abilities seem to be pinpointing exactly that issue, returning back to giving each ability specific advantages and disadvantages, the way things SHOULD be. For example, Spark no longer has the puzzle-breaking vertical lightning bolt attacks.
- Needle no longer has its rolling dash attack, although it did gain a downward aerial thrust attack. It's needles can still be fired in all directions by mashing directions.
- In an effort to make the Sword ability even more Zelda-y, Kirby can now use the Skyward Strike. Holding the up direction briefly causes Kirby to raise his sword and charge it. Once charged you can move around freely, and the next time you use an attack you will fire a sword beam.
- Spear has lost its ability to charge its throw and launch three spears at once. This is not really a big deal though, since it is still probably the most awesome ability in the game.
- Stone's weird uppercut move can now be charged briefly for a stronger punch. I haven't seen any real new stone forms yet save for one statue featuring all three party members from the Wii game.
- Ninja no longer has the ability to explode when you press attack while receiving damage. Instead, if you guard with good timing, he turns into a log (or sometimes another random object). I think this was done for balancing issues, as Ninja is one of the abilities available in the Kirby Fighters minigame.
- Wheel ability now has a full moveset rather than just the ability to drive. They include a charging attack for a more rocket-powered start up, and a stomp move you can use in mid-air; which might prove useful for returning to earth if you've launched yourself too high on certain terrain.
- The new Circus ability is very tricky to use. Its main attack can easily put you in harm's way and your dash attack causes Kirby to pop into the air, which can cause you to completely miss your target. I think it was designed specifically to be a challenging ability to use; it will be interesting playing through the whole game with it later, I think.
- The bosses in this game are AWESOME. I've only fought three so far, but I think they might be some of the best non-final bosses in the entire Kirby franchise. At the very least, they are definitely the best Whispy and Kracko fights ever.
- I notice that, unlike the Wii game that had a lot of unique enemies, this game seems to focus a lot more on populating its world with more classic Kirby enemies, including many of which have never had 3D models before, such as Chippy or Grizzo.
- I really suck at Dedede's Drum Dash. I managed to get gold in the first song and silver in the second two, but I highly doubt I have the ability to unlock the fourth song; which you need gold in all three of the default songs to unlock. Either this game is really hard or I just have really really bad rhythm.
- I don't really have a single complaint with this game so far. The level designs are solid and the collectables strongly implore you to explore every inch of them. My only concern is that the Hypernova segments, which are not in every level, tend to run a little long. These segments are good, don't get me wrong, but my concern lies in when I start doing challenge runs like single-ability runs, that doing them repeatedly is going to get antagonistic. This is probably not a concern for most people though.
Sooooo ... yeah. What I've played of the game so far is a really great traditional Kirby platformer. If you like Kirby I think this is definitely one you're going to want to get your hands on; if not immediately than eventually.