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digibutter.nerr
It's Hi-Technicaaal!
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Yoshi
Vampire
Joined: 15 Dec 2007
Posts: 12475
HP: 60 MP: 6 Lives: 0
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 Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 5:18 pm
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((TL;DR version at bottom.))
| Chris Buffa wrote: | Kirby is one of Nintendo's cutest characters and we're always willing to guide his adorable self through Dream World devouring enemies and stealing their abilities. His latest DS outing, Kirby Super Star Ultra, is a smattering of various adventures and mini games. It provides a convenient way to sample the best of Kirby, but spending $34.99 on a video game with less than three hours of content isn't our idea of a fun time.
Kirby Super Star Ultra is a port of the 1996 Super Nintendo game, Kirby Super Star. You get multiple adventure modes and mini games, none of which are worth playing for more than an hour. Spring Breeze, for example, is a traditional Kirby platform romp through Dream World, where Nintendo's puffball inhales his adversaries, spits them out or copies their abilities, gaining access to a sword, a tire that lets him burn rubber and smash into enemies and other useful weapons. That's the basis of most Kirby games and we enjoy playing them, except when they take us less than 25 minutes to beat. We easily breezed through this game's four levels, knocking out Kirby's arch nemesis, King Dedede, with little effort.
Unfortunately, that perfectly describes the rest of the game. Each sub game we unlocked offers a small taste of Kirby's glory, but all of them are short-lived experiences. Dyna Blade is essentially Spring Breeze but with a different bad guy, The Great Cave Offensive is similar, the only distinguishing factor having to do with finding 60 treasure chests. Revenge of Meta Knight is sweet, if only because we get to don his purple cape and cause havoc. Milky Way Wishes takes us on a fun trip through space, but that too, doesn't last long. Gourmet Race is unique in that you actually compete against King Dedede or the clock to reach the finish line while collecting food, but we can't play that for long. We uncovered other games, but much like the rest, we grew bored after a few minutes.
There are three sub-games, but none of them are addictive. Kirby Card Swipe challenges you to match cards before the computer or three other players. Meanwhile, Kirby on the Draw tests your shooting skills, as you must tap targets with your stylus before your opponents. Finally, Snack Tracks places Kirby on a conveyor belt and delivers food to his mouth. Your job is to make sure he consumes tasty treats while avoiding caterpillars and bombs, which you can send to your unsuspecting opponents. All of this is more enjoyable with friends (up to four can play with a single game card), but it's not like someone will call up their peeps and be like, "Hey, get over here so we can play some Kirby Snack Tracks". Maybe there are, but they probably answer the door wearing Pokemon-themed underpants.
Even the presentation is average. The game looks similar to previous Kirby games, with colorful worlds and cool looking enemies, but Nintendo didn't spruce things up or make great use of the DS' abilities. Actually, Super Star Ultra's most impressive visual feature is its full motion video cut scenes, despite being low resolution.
For gamers that don't know any better (namely kids, though we suspect they're smarter than we give them credit), Kirby Super Star Ultra offers a decent variety of games starring one of Nintendo's most endearing characters. However, we can think of better ways to spend $34.99 and we strongly suggest that you wait for a price drop, trick your grandparents into buying it or just play one of Kirby's previous adventures. And whatever you do, beware this game's shiny packaging. Its Death Star tractor beam will suck dollars from your wallet. |
| Jiggy37 wrote: | I'm not sure it's more possible to miss the point, regarding the length of the individual "games." I can't imagine how silly a review of, say, Super Mario Bros. 3 would look if people complained that the first world can be beaten in seven minutes and that the second world is more of the same but with desert backgrounds instead of grass, but that's the equivalent of what's being said here.
Here's the thing. In other Kirby titles (or most platformers, for that matter), you get six to eight worlds, usually with five to eight levels each--and Kirby Super Star is the same way. It's just that instead of being called World 1, World 2, and so on, they have actual names: Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, Great Cave Offensive, Revenge of Meta Knight, Milky Way Wishes, and Revenge of the King. Overall they add up to 28 clear levels, plus the non-linear Great Cave Offensive, which comprises around the equivalent of 8-10 levels, so you effectively have 36-38--a good number. (And I'm leaving out Meta Knightmare Ultra since that's just a combined run of SB, DB, GCO, RoMK, and MWW.)
Also, as much as I wish this weren't true, I have my doubts that you played through Kirby Super Star Ultra. (Which would raise serious ethical questions about how you can claim there's too short a game length, of course.) It took me over six hours to beat everything (meaning that my completion percentage on the front menu says "100%"), and I say this as someone who's beaten the original KSS untold dozens of times, knowing the ins and outs of every Great Cave Offensive puzzle and every room in Milky Way Wishes without having to think anything over.
But even if I put aside your claim that it's only three hours long, there are still other issues. For example, this is factually wrong: "Revenge of Meta Knight is sweet, if only because we get to don his purple cape and cause havoc." Not so. You play as Kirby in RoMK, just as it was twelve years ago with the original game.
You do play as Meta Knight in Meta Knightmare Ultra, but, again, various parts of this review call into question the idea that you found that out by playing this supposedly three-hour game as opposed to, say, reading about the mode in a press release. Individually, they wouldn't mean much, but together they build a mounting case:
1) You don't give the correct name of MKU. (And consequently don't give the correct description for Revenge of Meta Knight either, but that's another matter.)
2) You claim that you like playing as Meta Knight because you "get to don his purple cape and cause havoc," but in MKU he isn't wearing his cape. This would be a minor nitpick, except for the fact that it's one of the most striking and immediately noticeable things about his sprite in that mode--anyone who knows Meta Knight, whether from Kirby or Smash Bros., should be so used to seeing his cape that they'd feel strange not to have it there.
3a) According to the review, you were growing "bored after a few minutes" in each other game. However, MKU is one of the last things to be unlocked and requires completing very nearly everything else in Kirby Super Star Ultra. If you were getting bored, did you truly make it far enough into KSSU to play Meta Knightmare Ultra for yourself?
3b) If you did get that far, why is there no mention of the other two games that are unlocked before MKU, namely the Arena and Revenge of the King? You also said there were three sub-games--but there's at least one more you would have unlocked before MKU, so you should have known about it. You certainly weren't trying to avoid spoiling KSSU, since playable Meta Knight himself is a spoiler, so what other reason could there be to not name-drop these games? It could be that you never even reached MKU, but still wanted to complain about game length. Or there's the possibility that you truly believed the sub-games were worth noting while a 19-enemy boss rush with optional co-op doesn't deserve coverage. Take your pick, I guess.
4) There's no mention of co-op anywhere in this review. You know (and make fun of the fact) that the sub-games can be played with friends, and you believe that feature is worth mentioning to interested readers. Fair enough: it is. But being able to play actual adventure modes together or taking on bosses in the Arena doesn't deserve at least a sentence or two? As with the above situation, either you purposely ignored a significant feature or you didn't notice it.
5) Even if I grant that Spring Breeze, Dyna Blade, and Great Cave Offensive aren't too different in principle, Milky Way Wishes certainly is. You're willing to point out that in Great Cave Offensive you collect treasures, and you also take the time to explain why Gourmet Race is unique, even though that mode is basically a minigame. I commend those things. But there's not even a brief mention that Milky Way Wishes won't let Kirby swallow enemies, but instead has him collecting powers in hidden locations and being able to select them at will from a menu. Once again, why is there such a strange disparity in your review, that you cover the minor things while skipping the major ones? You'll describe even minigames like Gourmet Race and Snack Tracks, so the only thing I can think if you won't mention the gameplay of a longer game is that maybe you didn't get to it.
As for your suggestion that people should play one of Kirby's previous adventures, it makes virtually no sense given the feature set of KSSU. It has the same game length as any other Kirby; it has co-op, which no other Kirby except Amazing Mirror can claim (and that would require GBA link cable shenanigans instead of wireless communication); it has multiple moves per power instead of a single attack, which no other Kirby except Squeak Squad can claim (and that one couldn't claim nearly as many moves as KSSU); it has a few games that are genuinely difficult, which absolutely no other Kirby can claim.
I don't even have to say that I think KSSU is the greatest Kirby adventure (though I do) to tear down your suggestion. It could have been only equally as enjoyable as any other entry in the series and it would still represent the best possible value anyone could get from Kirby simply because it brings together co-op, worthwhile movesets, and some optional modes that offer challenge. (And speaking of value, KSSU sells for $29.99 at every store not named Gamestop.) I can't say how many times I've told people to avoid buying Kirby 64 on Virtual Console (K64 being an actual mediocre game that might deserve a two-star rating), or to skip Kirby's Adventure on VC (a great game in its own right) and wait for KSSU, for precisely these reasons. I can't imagine recommending the opposite.
Overall, I'm not sure what else I can say in response. With so many claims in this review that are factually untrue, so much neglect to mention pivotal features of Kirby Super Star Ultra that elevate it over other entries in the series and that deserved at least as much text as the sub-games that were covered in fair detail, and the random pot-shot at kids, I have difficulty taking the review seriously. |
TL;DR version: Some guy tries reviewing Kirby Super Star Ultra, and fails miserably, then some guy comes up, and basically kicks the other guy's opinion out of the water.
I've never seen an opinion that's particularly "wrong", but now...
Also, move this if it's not in the right place, since I didn't make the review. |
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Poyo!
Kirby
Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 1922
HP: 99 MP: 10 Lives: 0
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| Posted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 10:27 pm
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Wow, that's pretty impressive. I think that's the most constructive criticism I've ever seen. I remember someone posted that review a while back, and basically everyone agreed that the guy was either biased (lolololol Nintendork iz 4 nubs and babies) or didn't even play the game, which I wouldn't doubt. In other worlds: lolpwnt. |
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ChaosStar
Super Scourge
Vampire
Joined: 15 Oct 2007
Posts: 1156
HP: 100 MP: 9 Lives: 0
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| Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 12:02 am
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Why all these remakes?!!  |
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