Over the weekend I made a contextual error - if you could call it that. I hastily broadcasted the world’s shortest impressions of Kirby’s Epic Yarn using the phrase “suitably epic”. I come before you in humility and apologize, for this game is not epic. It is not awesome. This game - a nostalgia-inducing piece of pure entertainment - is quaint.
Simplicity permeates every aspect, from the storyboard-style cutscenes all the way down to gameplay. Instead of sucking up bad guys like a vacuum, Kirby wields a yarn lasso of sorts. With this he can swing from buttons, pull drawstrings that affect the environment in different ways, unravel enemies (which are also constructed of yarn), and transform into different types of vehicles that are mostly limited to specific segments. Despite its new functions and artful style, however, the game remains more an interesting pleasure than an epic groundbreaker.
One could certainly argue that Epic Yarn is a smorgasbord of beautiful graphics, and is thereby epic in visual accomplishment...but the ingenuity of its unique visual style and perfectly fluid animations does not constitute epicness. Flowing yarn and gorgeous patchwork environments will not revolutionize gaming; instead it will live forever in the hearts of those who enjoy the original.
One could argue that the mixture of control styles - as made possible by the Wii remote - add an extra layer of player interaction, and thereby bring epic controls to the game...but the truth is that pointing the Wii remote at the screen to spruce up Kirby’s apartment and tilting it to control various forms that Kirby takes are not what I’d call great fun, and are used sparingly. The vast majority of game time will be played using the Wii remote like a classic Nintendo Entertainment System controller, a method that befits the character’s origins and is still a perfectly relevant way to play great video games.
