Reviews VideoGame / Kirby Planet Robobot

Kirby + sci-fi invaders = ???

It's hard to come up with new ideas for a long-running franchise, I get that. Kirby Triple Deluxe on the 3DS simply added some 2½D gameplay involving some plane-switching and enemies and obstacles that attack from in back or front, sometimes basing level design heavily around that feature. Kirby: Planet Robobot keeps that and adds mecha armor.

The "Robobot" armor only appears in specific places, and the gameplay/level design usually changes to accommodate it. Since you can never use it outside of designated areas, it doesn't really feel like a power-up so much as "Okay, time to change gameplay style a little bit", except in a few areas where the armor is optional and even difficult to obtain. However, I do like the triumphant music that plays the first time you use it. It really conveys a sense that you've suddenly become powerful.

The armor has the ability to gain enemy abilities, but not all of them. For example, there's no way to see what "doctor" form or "poison" form would have been like, since those abilities never appear in the same area as the armor itself. Obviously this is to prevent the developers from having to make a new armor form for every single ability.

The gameplay is standard high-quality single-player Kirby. Fight enemies using abilities you gain from eating them, using a large number of attack moves. Solve puzzles in puzzle rooms. Try to collect hidden collectibles that earn you extra levels. It's not new, just good and fun.

What makes the game different isn't so much its gameplay but its theme. Kirby's planet has been invaded by outside forces, and they're very alien. They look and feel like nothing that belongs on Kirby's cute, bubbly world.

Don't get me wrong; while there's a clashing of styles, it's often handled by having Kirby's world, which is in the process of being mechanized and transformed, be changed in ways that are still cute. A city made of giant musical instrument-shaped buildings. Cars drive across a street with STOP and GO lights that have a little picture of a standing or walking Kirby on them. Giant lightbulbs and other things dot the landscape. It's mechanical, but cute.

What's much more "alien" in nature is the invaders themselves, and the feel as you progress near the end. Max Haltmann and Susie do fit somewhat in the Kirby universe but their behavior, dialog and intent makes it clear they are from a completely different world. They see the simpletons of Kirby's cute world as, well, simpletons, often referring to Kirby as "pink thing" and the citizens as "natives" and "savages". The music itself takes some odd turns, getting more mechanical at points, and even tossing in some dubstep. The story, particularly if you read the boss descriptions on the pause screen, gets very disturbing.

In short: standard high-quality gameplay, original theme.