Will that chubby pink ball conquer the world again with its gulps and cuteness? The most different thing is that this time, with the power of the 30th anniversary celebration, it turned into a 3D action game?
Don’t worry, “Kirby “Explore and Discovery” is still a fun-filled game for all children and adults. Of course, this work is not as simple as adding a dimension. From the level design, the screen presentation to the fun of playing, every link of the game is quite excellent, it’s a pity to miss it.
My personal impressions after playing the game are first: since “Super Mario Odyssey”, I haven’t played such a platform adventure game on NS for a long time.
Cute Kirby eats all over the world of Hakoniwa
“Kirby Discovery” is a 3D platform action game, but before sharing the game in depth, I would like to briefly introduce the two protagonists of this game: “Kirby“and”Box garden world」。
「Kirby” is Nintendo’s most distinctive and least distinctive character. Contrary to Mario, who has changed thousands of occupations, Kirby seems to be born with only one purpose: to devour. As long as Kirby opens his mouth and takes a big breath, most of the items in front of him will be swallowed into his stomach. If he swallows a character with special abilities, he can copy the ability of the other party for his own use.
Also because of the copying ability, Kirby is both simple and changeable. If Kirby is not a cute pink ball full of kind-heartedness, he is simply the final boss of the level of terror, and it is not unreasonable to be called “Pink Devil” by everyone.
and”Box garden world“In simple terms in the game industry, it is to create a small and delicate level with limited and polished polish, allowing players to explore freely. Level refinement is crucial in a game like this where exploration is the main fun, because players have to run through every corner of the level themselves, using observation and ingenuity to dig out the treasure buried in it, if the level is poorly designed , that game fun will be greatly reduced.
Fill your mouth everywhere at the end of the world!Explore a steady stream of treasures and surprises
I have a feeling that “Kirby Discovery” should be the product of Kirby’s inhalation of “Super Mario Odyssey” and “Super Mario 3D World”.
The main gameplay of the game is like the title, which is “exploration and discovery”. In the Hakoniwa levels one after another, in addition to controlling Kirby to pass through many obstacles to reach the end, the most important thing is to explore and solve puzzles, find hidden traps, and save the captured Wadourudi.
Each level has several hidden objectives that change with the characteristics of the level. For example, in a world with a windmill, the hidden target may be related to starting the windmill; in a world of ice and snow, if you have the ability to fire, you may be able to open up unexpected paths.
I must say, I initially underestimated this game. At first, the level of puzzle solving and the difficulty of passing the level were simple, which made me worry that I would repeat the mistakes of the previous game that were not popular with old players because it was too simple. But as the game progressed, I discovered one thing: in this game,The puzzle-solving process is fun enough, but the difficulty is not the point。
This is about the new system. This work has moved the game stage to the “world where civilizations existed in the past”, and added a “filling mouth” system for swallowing inorganic substances, making the puzzle solving process suddenly interesting.
Compared with the previous pure fantasy scenes, this work has more common objects in real life such as “clock”, “vending machine” and “water tower”. We already know the meaning of these objects, and they are scattered. Instead, it became an unspoken problem-solving prompt in the level.
For example, in a dark level where you can’t see your fingers, Kirby found a solar cell while walking, and there was a light cannon nearby, what would you do? (But it’s not the way you think it’s presented in the game, which is funny)
Of course, most of the puzzles are not as simple as seeing what they see. Because Kirby doesn’t know the meaning of these items, he sees Kirby changing into various shapes through his “gulp” ability, interfering with the entire game world in strange ways. It’s a very fresh and imaginative gameplay. Kirby, the triangular cone is really not used like this.
The puzzle density of the whole game is high, and there is no cold scene. What amazes me is that although the plot concentration is probably only at the level of fairy tale picture books, and most of them are up to the point (after all, it is a game for all ages), but the worldview setting of “post-apocalypse” can actually produce an interesting performance at the end. I didn’t expect such a playful plot line in the Kirby series.
Almost magical operation feel
If you are hesitant because you are not good at 3D action games, then I think you can at least give it a chance and try DEMO.
Kirby Discovery is an amazing game. Although the screen is 3D, in fact, walking and jumping are also three-dimensional, but the operation does not have the subtle sense of distance that cannot be grasped in previous 3D games (especially when jumping). Most of the time it’s as intuitive as a 2D flat game. why?
First of all, the game uses a fixed perspective from beginning to end, that is, the player cannot turn the camera at will. The camera will switch to the most suitable placement position as Kirby moves. Therefore, in the process of playing, whether Kirby wants to jump, escape, or attack, most of them only need to focus on a fixed plane direction, and there will be almost no jumps or misses.
Second, the development team made a lot of “ambiguity” adjustments (seeOfficial Interview Chapter 2), for example, an enemy that was originally missed due to visual dislocation will be directly judged to be hit; if you press jump before landing, it will be judged whether to float or jump again depending on the situation. These background technologies are all considerate to the players, and in actual play, you will occasionally feel a subtle experience such as: “Huh? I was able to dance like that just now? Forget it.”
The “Kirby Star” series has always been known for its smooth operation. Even if it is changed to 3D, this feature is still well preserved.
If you are really hard at action games, and you can’t beat the boss no matter what, this game also gives Kirby an almost invincible “dodge” ability. As long as you hold down L or R to defend, and hit the arrow keys at will before you are attacked, you are guaranteed to be able to dodge any attack perfectly – and it also comes with a bullet time that will slow down the enemy, allowing you to easily counter-steal several knives – use it all over again At the end, it is not difficult to break the level, it is simply a big taboo trick.
The most gorgeous visuals and music the series has ever seen
After I cleared the level, I had a strong feeling in the level experience: “Am I playing Monster Hunter?”
This work has made almost all of the most representative ecosystems on the earth into levels. As each level is passed, it is like an ecological journey around the world, lush, humid, hot, cold and freezing, everything is super enjoyable.
Due to the post-apocalyptic style, I always have a strong desire to explore the scene during the exploration process. Seeing how these relics of civilization have decayed and turned into brand new levels, how Kirby is wreaking havoc in them and exploring everywhere, the process is really relaxing.
The great thing about this work is that no matter which level it is, the visual and scene design are quite delicate and full of charm. Every time you enter a new level, there will be a short cutscene, and the player will start to explore from the long-range to the close-up.
This vision is basically just to provide atmosphere creation, but it is done very carefully, and the flowers and plants on the roadside will also respond to some of Kirby’s actions (of course, if you get the fire ability, you must burn up the weeds), these Useless but interesting little interactions are exactly what makes people feel the intentions of the production team.
The extensive use of depth-of-field effects in the game is also a godsend. It is well known that the performance of the NS host is relatively high, and there is no way to perform huge calculations. Therefore, the game adjusts the visual focus to focus on Kirby’s surroundings, and simply puts a thick layer of blur on the periphery that cannot be finely drawn, creating a feeling of peeping into the toy box, which doubles the cuteness.
Speaking of cuteness, it’s really the most destructive element of this work. Kirby is cute, the level is cute, the enemy is cute, the props are cute… It’s really cute. How many people are going to die.
Best of all, the tracks on almost every level are pretty catchy. The game feels a bit like a trip to the world, so you can also feel that the background music is unreservedly added with a variety of styles to meet the changing scene levels. For example, I especially like a certain factory scene, the industrial feel created by the strong metal percussion that switches from the surface to the underground.
Disadvantages of this work
Although the process experience is commendable, there are still several shortcomings.
First of all, the biggest disadvantage is that the game does not have a photo mode.
There are a lot of attractive places to take pictures in this game. It may be because the system locks the viewing angle. You can’t take pictures or adjust the angle you like to take screenshots. It’s really painful.
Then there is the difficulty of the game. As a game suitable for all ages, the difficulty must be lower to allow everyone to have fun, and it is true that some levels and challenge modes in the later stage are really not easy. However, in the main levels, there is not much content that can be called a challenge, even the side gameplay. In terms of difficulty, it’s about the level that lower-grade elementary school students who don’t play games often find it a little difficult, but it won’t be difficult, right?
However, I have to reiterate that difficulty has not always been the focus of “Kirby Star”, but if you want to pursue a high-intensity experience (such as the dark side of the moon in “Mario Odyssey”), it should be no.
The third is a small game. “Kirby of the Stars” has a high degree of completion of the mini-games of all dynasties, which always makes people talk about it. And it often includes a variety of gameplay, racing, reaction, fighting, puzzle, everything, and even small games are so popular that they are independently made into a full-scale game for sale.
It’s just that it’s a bit ordinary in this mini-game, and there really is only a mini-game pattern left. There are so many novel and fun experiences in the rare level. If some bridges are isolated and made into small games, it should be very interesting.
In the end, the game is a little too small. In order to avoid thunderstorms, I won’t talk about what will happen after the level is cleared, but for me, it takes about 10 hours to clear the level for the first time, and it takes about 30 hours to complete the collection after playing to 100% (excluding time). challenge). But after playing 100%, there is actually nothing to play, and this playing time is not much for modern games.
But this is a matter of opinion, but at least I personally had a lot of fun in these 30+ hours, and there was not a single moment of boredom and repetitive homework.
Epilogue
“Kirby Discovery” is a fun game that has the core gameplay of previous series, but has made a major breakthrough. It is a seemingly terrifying post-apocalyptic style scene, but because of the bright and cute elements, the game process is full of all kinds of fun.
The core focus of “exploration and discovery” is vividly explained by Kirby’s ability to absorb and “fill the mouth”. With high-quality background music, every puzzle is full of ingenuity, and every adventure is full of surprises.
For the first time in the series to challenge a 3D action game, it is really powerful to be able to hand over such a beautiful transcript, and the control is excellent. Even players who are not good at 3D games should be able to easily get started. Supporting 2P adventures on the same machine can also double the fun.
No matter your gender or age, if you’re after a fun, bright, and cute adventure, this game should be full of surprises and fun along the way. On the other hand, if you want to play a game that can be played forever, or is full of challenges, then this game may not be so suitable.
