There always seems to be a new Kirby game being released nearly every year. This time around it’s Kirby: Battle Royale, a new type of fighting game from Kirby that pits Kirby against other versions of himself in an arena. Somewhat similar to Kirby Fighters Delux that was released in 2014 except with a top-down view and with a few mini-games to play.
The game consists of three main modes: Story Mode, Battle Mode, and Online Battle. Story mode consists of a story called The Cake Royale which is a tournament of five different leagues that consists of mini-games that must be beaten in order to earn points to advance to the next league. Along the way, you unlock new abilities for Kirby to use in battles such as the bomb, beetle, and spear. There are fourteen in total and they add a twist to the battles as you decide on which ability is best suited for your style or the mini-game that is being played.
In terms of the mini-games, there are only 10 in total, each only lasting a minute to two minutes, with a simple goal to accomplish. Some of the mini-games have different layouts of maps to play adding a different set-up each time they are played. There are some goods mini-games, such as the Apple Scramble that has you collecting more apples than the other player. To do this you must hit a tree to make apples drop and then throw them onto a trap door that must then be opened to score points. There is some strategy involved in this as you can steal the other player’s apples or pile up all the apples on the trapped door before pulling the lever to make them drop. Another fun mini-game is the Rocket Rumble that has you loading your rocket with fuel before blasting off. All of all the mini-games are pretty fun but there are so few and after playing them multiple times they become a bit tedious and repetitive.
As the story mode really consists of playing these mini-games to eventually win the Cake Royale it is somewhat underwhelming. Battle mode just lets you play the mini-games on your own or with a friend with the option of letting you play from 1 to 10 mini-games to see who comes out on top. Online battle is similar in that you play mini-games against other players online. Playing online earns you points to level up and that is the main objective of this mode. Both these modes are fun, in the beginning, to play as the mini-games are best played against a friend or someone else online than against the computer.
While Kirby Battle Royale has the ingredients for a great game it falls well short on content and execution, especially considering this is a retail release. There is not enough content in the game to keep you entertained for long and to keep you coming back. The story mode is underwhelming and becomes repetitive after playing the same mini-game for a third or fourth time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zStuuC9SATo
Kirby Battle Royale
Pros
- Fun mini-games
- Great graphics
Cons
- Little content
- Underwhelming story mode
