Kirby’s Epic Yarn for the Wii – review

Kirby’s Epic Yarn for the Wii is a fun-filled game for 1-2 players that the whole family can enjoy playing, regardless of your age level. Now, I’ll admit that when I started playing the game, this was not my initial opinion of it. At first, I thought the word “yarn” only meant a story, and not that Kirby and Prince Fluff, who you can also play as, would be made of yarn. So, I was taken aback and thought that the game was meant for maybe only younger kids, possibly 10 and under. However, I decided I’d give it a chance, and play it for a while, and see if I might change my mind about it.

In Kirby’s Epic Yarn, the power Kirby is most known for isn’t sucking in enemies but transforming into other things. The sucking in enemies is just the means by which he does it. Prince Fluff plays exactly the same as Kirby. The game does start off seeming too easy, like it was made for kids, but as you go the levels do get a bit difficult. Some of the more difficult parts of the game involve getting through big sections full of spikes as a UFO or avoiding enemies underwater as a submarine.

I’m kind of biased on whether it’s better with two people; I think EVERY game is better with co-op. Even though it seems like a kid game at first, it really is for everyone. Experienced gamers can find a challenge in the levels as you progress and in trying to find all the hidden coins and treasure chests in every level. In addition, as you get more coins and treasure chests, you unlock patches you can use in the world maps to unlock extra optional levels in each world, which are all more difficult than the story-required levels. Kids may find parts difficult, but luckily you can’t actually die in the game; every time you get hurt you just drop a bunch of beads (necessary for optional mini-games). And if it’s still too difficult, the other player can actually pick up the one having trouble (the same way you pick up enemies) and carry them through the tough part.

The bosses all started off hard, especially when I wasn’t yet sure how to avoid attacks or even how to hurt them. They’re all big and made of yarn, and a few of the coolest ones are a dragon, a magician (actually just his head and a magic hat, I think), and King Dedede (a main bad guy from the classic Kirby games, but this one’s kind of a surprise in the story). Even when you learn HOW to harm the enemies, it is still difficult doing it without losing all those beads. The more beads you have at the end, the closer you get to achieving a Gold medal instead of Silver or Bronze. If I remember right, most of the bosses have a button on a string (which you can see in the main game and have to grab onto and pull to move something) that you grab and pull or swing on or something, but they like to reveal them at inopportune times. The dragon’s was on his tongue, I think, which only came out when he breathed fire.

It was a unique spin (yarn pun, har har) on the classic Kirby formula, was a decent length (8 worlds, I think, with maybe 6-8 levels in each? And like all games like this, there’s always the world with green grass and hills, the ice world, the water world, the lava world, etc.), fun to play (even more fun, but sometimes frustrating as all co-op games can be with a skill discrepancy among the players, with two), fairly good replayability (for going back to collect all the stuff you missed and unlock new secret levels), the things you turn into can actually be pretty epically awesome (my favorite is a tank with a cannon on top), bosses big and fun to fight, and the enemies were a mix of classic ones mixed with new ones. In the co-op mode, the huge tank is steered by one player, while the other takes control of its gun turret.

Kirby’s Epic Yarn is full of hidden items to collect, and many challenging areas to journey through and explore. I started out pretty much hating the game, but I grew to embrace its uniqueness and found that it’s more fun and more difficult than it looks at first blush. If you’re a fan of sports games or shooting games, you might not think this game is for you, but it is a pretty fun way to spend the four or so hours it takes to beat the game. Though it can be beaten in this relatively short time, collecting all of the items and thoroughly exploring all of the levels will take you longer, and the co-op mode is fun and addictive.