Reviews

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

By Corey

Kirby finally gets his own game on the N64. It's been a while hasn't it?

Graphics: 9

If you've ever played a Kirby game, you know what to expect. If not, every thing is bright, colorful, and a bit cartoonish. However, if they were anything other than that, this wouldn't be a Kirby game. So everything fits perfectly with the theme of the game. There are some great effects in the game too, especially the volcano level.

Gameplay: 9

If you don't know the basics of Kirby, you probably shouldn't be here. Ok, I take that back. Basically, Kirby eats everything. His basic power is to eat enemies. Some of these enemies contain special powers. Swallowing an enemy with a power will enable you to take that power and use it against everything else. Sadly, there are only 7 normal powers in the game: Burn, Stone, Ice, Needle, Bomb, Spark, and Cutter. Here comes the good part though. If you spit out an enemy at another enemy with a power, a combo star appears. Swallow that and you got both powers merged! You can merge any two powers in the game, even two of the same. So you got tons of choices to use now. Some powers can you make you almost un-stoppable while others are pretty useless.

There are a total of 6 levels, with 4-5 areas in each. The last area of each level is a boss battle. Surprisingly, there are some tough spots in the game. Usually if I died though, it was because I was careless. A couple of the bosses may give you a bit of trouble depending on the power you have going into the fight. Sometimes no power is better than any power going in.

In each of the main areas there are also 3 Crystal Shards and in a boss fight there is 1. This makes a total of 72. While finding these is not your first priority, you will need them all to truly beat the game. A few of these involve puzzles you must solve to make them appear. In another surprise, one or two actually are extremely difficult. Overall, finding all of the Shards can be a tough task but with use of some common sense and a little luck, a task that can be done with out too much trouble.

There are also stars and food items around the stages. Stars act like coins in most Mario games. By getting enough, you'll gain an extra life (which there are too many of for the game's own good by the way). Food replenishes one unit of lost life except for the tomato, which fully restores it.

When you beat a stage there is a small mini-game that gives you a chance to get an item. I'm only mentioning this because if you collect the "?" item, you get an enemy card that you can view in the Enemy Info option on the main screen.

In addition to your normal gameplay, you will find yourself riding a raft down the river, inside of a mine cart (it's a rule there must be at least one minecart ride in platformers), and riding on a buddy's back. These are a good change from just playing as Kirby, but the rides could have easily been a little longer.

I guess I should finally mention the fact that even though the world in 3D, this is a 2D game. That means you have one path you can go on. Sometimes there is a bit of a split and you can pick, but you can't go anywhere but where the game lets you. It's a good change of pace from all those 3D platformers and a flashback to the 8-bit and 16-bit eras. It also helps that you use the D-Pad instead of the Joystick in this game. I think control would have been a lot worse otherwise.

In addition to everything above, there are 3 multiplayer mini-games you can play. In one last surprise, I actually find one, Checkerboard Chase, kind of fun. Though 2 of the 3 are really too simple, the 3rd involves in a little thought and strategy, especially on a higher difficulty (when playing against the computer). I'm sure I'll find it boring soon enough, but for now I like it.

Sound: 9

If you've heard music from any other Kirby game, a lot of it is in here too. Otherwise it's just music that perfectly fits the mood of the game. The boss music in Kirby games has always been one of my favorite tunes and its back here. For other sound effects, you got noises for every single thing that goes on, and they are done pretty well too. There is one word of speech in here and that is when Kirby says "Hi!" to you after beating a boss.

Lasting Value: 8

You know the game is short, right? So why such a high score here? Well, if your goal is to go from left to right as fast as possible, then yeah, the game will be over quickly. However, if you go through all the stages fairly slowly experimenting with all of the possible powers, looking for every star, searching for all of those crystal shards, and just enjoying the experience, the game will take a lot longer to beat. Plus, you are supposed to go through these types games a few times just because it's fun anyway. Finding all 72 Shards will be a bit of a challenge that should add a good amount of game time too. And if you really want something to do, go and collect all of the enemy info cards.

Bottom Line

Now I've praised the game highly. You also know the game can be really short if you make it short. There are some questions you need to ask yourself though. Do you want to play an old school 2D game? Will you play through the game more than once? Are you a fan of past Kirby games? If you've answered yes to those, this is a must buy. If not, you may still want to consider buying it. I'd recommend you to rent it though, as you can beat it completely in 4 days if you really try. I wouldn't rush through the game if I were you though.

Final Score: 9 out of 10