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Kirby Squeak Squad Review
Written by Louise Yang on Tuesday, January 2, 2007
New abilities, ability combining, lots of bonuses, single-cart minigames
Too easy, too short
One calm day, Kirby was sitting down about to enjoy a delicious piece of strawberry shortcake when it was stolen from right under his non-existent nose. That's not the only thing the thieves took. It seems that Dreamland's treasures were missing too. Cross and hungry, Kirby went after the thieves to bring his cake and treasure back.
Kirby Squeak Squad plays like the previous iterations of the platformer. He floats, he jumps, he swallows enemies and gets their power. However, new features have also been added such as the ability to hold items/powers in bubbles in Kirby's stomach on the touch screen. Kirby has the ability to hold up to five item bubbles, which can be mixed together in different ways to produce other items. Mix two healing pill bottles together and get an item that heals more. Mix the sword power with the ice power and get an ice sword. Mixing bubbles will be mandatory to cut down on inventory space. Players can pick a bubble by simply tapping it.
Another new feature is how the different abilities interact with the environment. Using the cutting ability lets Kirby cut down tall bushes and platforms hanging on chains and using the freeze ability can create platforms to walk on by freezing water. While using the right ability in a particular area usually isn't mandatory, it's a must if you're a completionist that strives to grab each treasure chest. Treasure chests contain a plethora of things such as ability upgrades, spray paint cans (for changing Kirby's color), music snippets, health items, and pieces to unlock bonuses. There's also the additional challenge of keeping big treasure chests out of the Squeak Squad's hands. Wherever there's a large treasure chest to be found, be sure that a Squeak Squad is nearby to tear it out of Kirby's hands, so be ready to fight for it.
In these days of complex control schemes, it's nice to play a game without having to read the manual. I was happy to see the old Kirby formula was still there. If it's not broke, why fix it, right? One thing I liked about the game was how it made use of different abilities. The ice world, for example, is one of the best places to use the fire ability, since platforms of ice and snow can be melted to gain access to otherwise unreachable areas. I just wish that the bosses for each world matched their surroundings. I expected the boss of the ice world to throw ice cubes, but was disappointed to see he didn't.
While this game is perfect for kids who are just getting introduced to platformers, it may be a little too easy for veterans. I beat the first world's boss by spamming the fire ability while backing him into a corner. It wasn't until the boss of the fifth world that I felt the game get harder. Since the gameplay is so easy, I wanted the levels to be longer, but most of them can be completed in two or three minutes. Squeak Squad makes for a short game for anyone who just wants to beat it, but if you're the type who wants to explore every nook and cranny of each level to finish the game 100%, it'll last longer.
Squeak Squad also features a number of mini-games which can be played single player, or with someone else through single cart download play or multi-cart. The mini-games range from a "tap the strawberry shortcake before your opponent does" to "knock your opponent off of a platform" type of games. They require no instructions since they're so simple. The games aren't really that exciting and it all depends on who you play the mini-game with for it to be fun.
Fans of the franchise won't be disappointed by picking this up. For everyone else, I suggest waiting for a price drop or playing any of the previous Kirby games because the length of this one just seems too short.
posted January 4, 2007