Review: Kirby's Epic Yarn

Kirby’s Epic Yarn is a platform game for the Nintendo Wii. It was developed by HAL Laboratories.

Everything in Epic Yarn is made to look like it was sewn together.

One day in Dreamland Kirby is turned into yarn and thrown in Patch Land by the evil yarn sorcerer Yin-Yarn. In Patch Land Kirby learns from its ruler Prince Fluff that Yin-Yarn has stolen the magic yarn that holds Patch Land together. Kirby and Fluff have to recover the missing magic yarn and put patch land together, then stop Yin-Yarn before he turns all of Dreamland into yarn.

Kirby, and if there is a second player Prince Fluff, travel through seven different areas in Patch Land, each made up of six levels and one boss fight. In each level Kirby has to avoid enemies and obstacles and ring a bell at the end of the level. There are colored beads Kirby and Prince Fluff can find each level.

Kirby has a piece of string that he uses like a whip to either unravel enemies or roll them up into balls and throw them at blocks. Combat is really easy; Kirby’s whip works on most enemies except for the ones that are bigger than Kirby, and they do not have any defense.

A big point of the game, perhaps the biggest part of the game, is an apartment Kirby gets at the beginning of the game that the player can decorate. Furniture and wallpaper/carpeting are mainly bought at the store with the beads found in the levels. There are over a hundred different types of furniture the player can buy, from sofas to beds to clock to thrones to rugs to dolls to food. There are also hundreds of different patterns the player can buy to decorate the walls and floor of the apartment, as well as reupholster all the furniture.

There is a string along the top of the screen that fills up with beads when the player collects beads. Collecting enough beads awards the player a medal; the more beads collected the higher the medal. Collecting these medals accomplishes nothing.

There are also two pieces of furniture and one piece of music hidden in each level as well. The player can listen to the music when not in a level.

Other tenants move into Kirby’s apartment complex when the player puts certain furniture into the apartments. These tenants play games with Kirby in levels the player has already completed. They are: hide-and-seek, collect a certain number of beads, carry the tenant to a certain part of the level, beat up a set number of enemies, and racing. Playing the side games gets the player unique wallpapers. These games are mildly amusing, but not that fun. And they can get boring

Kirby and Prince Fluff cannot be harmed. Any time they are hit or fall into a pit, all they do is loose some of the beads they have collected, which can then be picked up again. It is only a problem for anyone trying to get the medals, which accomplish nothing.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn has a unique art style. Everything looks like it was made out of yarn and similar construction materials. All the characters are animated pieces of yarn, and all the backgrounds look like they are made out of felt and other materials stitched together, with liberal use of buttons. Kirby goes through ice caps, forest, haunted houses, and inside televisions, but it all looks stitched together. It is an interesting look at first, but after a while the overall fakeness of everything makes it boring to trek through. And it does not look like someone is actually holding felt behind the screen; the graphics are not good enough.

Special mention has to be given to the music, which sounds like it was made by two talented people in a room full of musical instruments. None of the soundtrack sounds electronic.

If Kirby’s Epic Yarn has a problem, is that it is way too easy. Combat is simple, Kirby cannot get damaged, and there is nothing that feels like a challenge, not even the boss fights. The game has been dumb downed so the player can focus on decorating their apartment.

And in the end, the apartment is not that good. Sure there are a lot of pieces of furniture and wallpaper, but it is a really small room. And even though there are lots of pieces of furniture, Kirby cannot interact with most of the furniture. If the player puts the furniture closer the screen, Kirby will walk over it likes it’s a picture. What was the point of the damn thing?

Kirby’s Epic Yarn is a subpar Kirby game. The Kirby series is not the most difficult series, but they still manage to be fun. This one is just tedious.