The squishy pink puff ball we all know as Kirby is about to get a shiny new coat of armor in the form or robot suits. Kirby Planet Robobot is Kirby's last big original adventure for the 3DS and it is quite an adventure at that. This is a full length game featuring several themed chapters each with a handful of different stages. Although Kirby won't be walking around in a robot suit the entire time this new element definitely mixes up the gameplay formula from previous outings. Just like in previous games Kirby can absorb the powers of his foes and so can his robot suit. These different abilities help add variety to the gameplay and fill out several little puzzles that can be found in nearly every stage. Hope you're ready to use these powers as we fight again to save the planet.
Each level will start out as you'd expect a Kirby game to play as. This is still the side-scrolling series you know and love in which you can suck in your foes to obtain different powers. Suck in a knight to fight with a sword, a ninja if you desire throwing stars, or a wheel if you wish to race around. There are three cubes in each stage that are usually well hidden and may require you careful planning if you wish to obtain them all. You'll also find stickers along the way which you can collect just for fun. Many stages feature a boss fight or two that lets you put your combat skills to the test. Getting through any particular level isn't super challenging but finding all the cubes will be a more rewarding challenge for many people.
Of course we need to address the elephant in the room... yes I'm talking about giant mech suits. This is the key element that differentiates this game from previous entries. Once you reach the point in a stage where you jump into the robot suit you start to feel like a real beast mowing down enemies and obstacles in your path. This isn't to say that there isn't a challenge as you may need to utilize the suit in different ways to unlock certain paths or collectables. A key feature to the suit is it's ability to absorb enemy powers and the way it utilizes the powers is quite an upgrade from the small boosts that Kirby would get.
The story is quite long and for a completionist will probably take close to 20 hours to finished. Once you are done with the main story their is a handful of other modes you can play. While many of the modes focus on the traditional battles or boss rushes Meta Knight Returns is the most interesting addition. In the Meta Knight game you get to replay through the story as Meta Knight whom must fight with this sword since he can't inhale enemies. It is kind of pegged as a speed-run mode as you have a timer keeping track of how quickly you can complete each stage. Meta Knight doesn't just rely on his sword but instead has four different powers affecting speed, damage, and health which you can refill by defeating enemies.
It took me a long time to finish this game both because it is quite a good length campaign and because I often forget about by 3DS as I tend to stick with console games. Now that I finally got through this adventure I can say I quite enjoyed it. I especially liked a lot of the little puzzle elements guarding the power cubes or the rare stickers. The mech suit worked surprising well and it was fun to see how they would take advantage of each enemy power. If your a fan of side-scrollers and you've played a Kirby game before this is pretty much exactly what we've come to expect from a triple-A Nintendo game. There is plenty of action, fighting, and puzzling to keep you engaged through this latest adventure.