Game Review: Kirby Mass Attack

Billy O'Keefe - Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

For: Nintendo DS

From: Nintendo

ESRB rating: Everyone (comic mischief, mild cartoon violence)

Price: $30

"Kirby Canvas Curse" was such a door-busting revelation for touchscreen gaming that for some, it remains - six years and many great games later - the class of the Nintendo DS library.

To say it's nice to finally have a spiritual successor to that game is what we in the business like to refer to as an understatement.

First things first: "Kirby Mass Attack" doesn't recycle "Curse," which tasked players with indirectly controlling Kirby by drawing freeform platforms, walls, ramps, loops and any other scribble that could safely escort him from A to Z. There is some of that, but it's more literal, with as many as 10 Kirbies following any path you draw regardless of that path's physics (so long as the path doesn't send them straight into walls or other obstacles).

The rub, of course, is that part where you're controlling as many as 10 Kirbies at one time.

As a predictably silly story explains, Kirby has been split into multiple smaller and less capable versions of himself. When "Attack" begins, you assume control of a single downsized Kirby, who recruits up to nine twins to his party by collecting fruit and other power-ups scattered around what otherwise are your typical 2D platformer stages. (Think "Super Mario Bros." or Kirby's more traditional adventures.)

As one becomes two and eventually 10, "Attack" turns into a surprisingly coherent mash-up between platformer, "Canvas Curse" variant and real-time strategy game. When the Kirbies encounters enemies, you can tap on the enemy to instruct all Kirbies to march forth and attack. If you need to multitask, you can tap and drag individual Kirbies to fling them at enemies and anything else that requires their attention at the same time.

In the wrong hands, the idea would stale quickly. But that was true as well of "Curse," which started small but grew more and more elaborate by parlaying its simple concepts into a ridiculous collection of clever implementations and scenarios.

"Attack" isn't spotless: Some levels simply ask you to stock up on Kirbies and mindlessly fling them at one enemy or object after another. But far more than not, it flashes that same level of imagination and willingness to try anything and everything that's possible with the quirky mash-up it's created. "Attack" sends the Kirbies on a satisfyingly lengthy adventure, and even with the occasional dud level in play, the novelty never outstays its welcome.

"Attack" borrows another inspired page from "Curse's" playbook by giving dedicated players a ton of incentive to go back play it again. Every level hides coins in secret areas well outside the default path from entrance to exit, and the truly obsessive can attempt to nab each level's bronze (don't let any Kirbies die), silver (don't let any get knocked out) and gold (no damage whatsoever) stars.

The stars are good for bragging rights, but the coins unlock a trove of bonus games, including a "Kirby"-themed Whack-a-Mole variant, a pinball game and a 2D space shooter.

As you'd have to expect, these aren't full-sized games. But they aren't exactly diminutive, either: The pinball game has multiple tables, the space shooter multiple boss fights, and even the most simplistic games have high score tables and multiple levels of play. If Nintendo relented and started making mobile games, some of these could easily justify a buck spent at the App Store. For the price of free and as reward for a job well done playing one of the DS' best games, they're a steal and then some.

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