Over at The Escapist, I dug Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw’s latest hate-filled Zero Punctuation review of Kirby’s Epic Yarn (just now released in Australia, apparently). This is the first game in a long time that I wished I could return for a full refund. So here is my response to his review (dumped in his forums, amidst hundreds of random pithy one liners and crap-comments):
This is the game the stopped me from buying anything more for the Wii.
Iwata mentioned kirby during his GDC keynote: explaining they wanted to make a game you couldn’t fail – and still make it fun – to address the rising difficulty levels in games. I wish I’d heard this before I purchased the game. I was suckered in by the art-style, figuring it must be Nintendo’s answer to Little Big Planet (which I loved. hugely great experience with friends, that drew in several girlfriends who usually don’t game).
I played EpicYarn for about an hour, by myself, hating every minute. baffled. It felt like a demo which someone forgot to plot out.
No motivation at all continue playing. I still can’t tell if this is due to the no-fail mechanic (which I don’t remember noticing, honestly. Just thought it was easy at the time). I expect it’s due to the non-sensical non-plot.
it’s too bad they didn’t hide an adult plot away in the harder parts, instead of … apartments? … I actually didn’t know there was any reward for playing through the game, so this review was very useful for pointing this out. far more useful than other reviews which drool over the fabric graphics. (other reviews of this game have also baffled me. great graphics? huh?).
Another way to sum this game up might be : it’s children’s entertainment that offers a big fuck you to adults. I don’t understand why someone would WANT to make something like this. on purpose.
(thought it was widely accepted that great children’s entertainment can be enjoyed by both children and adults. it lets them come together and bond. it gives children a little something to aspire to. and adults a little something to remind them of youthful fun and innocence. offering nothing for adults reeks of teletubbies and barney – random colors and sounds offer no bridge to the real world.)
They should have called it “Kirby: Fuzzy Test Patterns”