Okay Geek Farm
Wii Review - Kirby's Epic Yarn
Amanda DrakeStory: One day in Dreamland Kirby comes across his favorite food, a bright red metamato. As he goes to suck it in he soon discovers that it’s not a tomato at all, but instead a mysterious sorcerer named Yin-Yarn. As it turns out, the wizard’s white sock begins to glow and soon Kirby finds himself sucked into the world of Patchland, where everything and even he are made up of yarn. Since he’s now made out of yarn Kirby can’t suck in enemies anymore, but he can still transform using different methods. And after coming across a boy who introduces himself as Prince Fluff, it’s up to Kirby to help take back the magical yarn that Yin-Yarn has in his possession and sew back together Patchland.
GamePlay: Like most Wii games that only require the Wii-mote to play, Kirby’s Epic Yarn has you holding the Wii-Mote horizontally, giving you the D-Pad to move Kirby around, and the 1 and 2 buttons to use the new yarn grab and jump. Different combinations of double tapping forward, or jumping in the air and pressing down transform Kirby into a variety of objects like; a car, a weight, and an umbrella. And while, yes, the famous sucking attack is absent from the game, there are certain parts of levels when you’ll be able to use a piece of yarn to transform and gain special abilities. The only downside to this is that it doesn’t last too long, and once you’re back to normal the gameplay you realize just how repetitive the entire game is.
Also featured in the game is an apartment that you are able to furnish with the special items you collect from each level. Think Animal Crossing but with some added mini-games thrown into the mix. And for added measure, you also get the option of playing co-op with another player through out the entire game if you so wish, which is a great for when you have a friend over.
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Visuals / Audio: Visually, Epic Yarn is as bright and colorful as you would expect any Kirby game to be. The cute details added to the levels; from buttons, zippers, fabric textures, and more, guarantees that you can always expect each new level to be just as vibrant and magical as the last. It definitely has Nintendo’s touch.
Audio-wise, Epic Yarn sounds cutesy, with each tune matching perfectly with each level that you enter. Unfortunately, it can also become annoying quite quickly; from the squeaky sounds Kirby and friends make, to the voice narrating the story - the audio just makes the game feel extrememly childish. But not to spoil anything, when you do get further into the game and see familiar faces and places you’ll find yourself humming along to retro songs like it’s no one’s business.
Difficulty: Epic Yarn is undeniably the easiest game I have ever played. And the main reason for this can be attributed to the fact that YOU. CANNOT. DIE. Yeah, that’s right; there’s no health bar, no lives, no continues! You can just keep getting hit over and over again and the worst thing that’ll happen to you is you’ll lose jewels, which equate to simply losing points. From the get go the game treats you like you are a child and even for old school Kirby fans this can get annoying relatively fast. Boss fights are not even a challenge and are pretty redundant seeing as you can’t die, and while some are interesting they still end up being overly simple. The mini games provide a greater challenge from normal gameplay they are also relatively easy to complete, and with a time limit they tend to be to short of a break from the normal gameplay.
Epic Yarn is made for children. And while that may sound like a slap in the face to older fans of the series Nintendo makes it painfully obvious. That being said, with absolutely no difficulty it truly does make this a game where anyone can pick up and play.
Hours to Complete: It took me about 5 1/2 hrs to complete this game even with collecting all the secret objects, jewels, boss fights and taking small breaks to keep my sanity.
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Opinion: As someone who had high hopes for this game it was so unbearably easy that I had difficulty just trying to progress through each level. Having been a fan of Kirby for years I expected Nintendo to really give us the Kirby game we’ve all been patiently awaiting for, but unfortunately that game is NOT Epic Yarn. The game could have possibly saved itself if it allowed for some way to change the difficultly for older players, but the repetitive gameplay, easy boss fights, narration and overall bland story just didn’t do it for me.
Play or Pass: As sad as it makes me to say it, I am going to have to say that this Kirby title is a must Pass. Kirby’s Epic Yarn was a great concept for an old series but Nintendo fell flat in their execution, or at the very least in their marketing. It’s a great title for parents to get their kids into gaming, but for the rest of us this series really needs a great reboot to wash away the memory that Epic Yarn ever happened.
