Epic Yarn thrives on warm moments of unpredictability, aesthetic beauty, and a laid back approach to platforming.
Worries that the title relies solely on warming the eyes and ears should be diminished. Epic Yarn excels in simplistic, tight controlling platforming, albeit slow-paced, and contains delightful little surprises around every corner to keep Kirby's latest adventure feeling fresh throughout.
If the Kirby series was not the Winnie-the-Pooh of the gaming world before, it certainly is now. Set in a storybook world that rivals the charm of the Hundred Acre Wood, Patch Land becomes under assault by the sorcerer/witch Yin Yarn. Kirby finds himself hopelessly swept away into this stitched land whilst simply looking for some grub. Kirby agrees to help his new found friend Prince Fluff obtain the magic yarn to knit Patch Land back together again.
Asking what Patch Land is made of is like asking what the ground on earth is called: it is called earth, and Patch Land is made of fabric. Patch Land contains some of the tastiest eye candy. How Kirby interacts with zipped and sewed up platforms add a special sense of cozy. The graphics are part of what makes Epic Yarn a great game, but the gameplay is among the finest in modern day 2D platforming.
Although Kirby cannot die in this game, it is not entirely true that Epic Yarn is a complete cakewalk, not for those desiring to truly complete the game. Each stage contains colorful beads that Kirby must obtain in order to achieve a bronze, silver, or gold medal, depending on the number retained by the end of the stage. Unlocking the next stage also requires acquiring these sparkling little jewels. When Kirby is hit, his beads scatter abroad, but they can always be picked back up, unless they are lost after Kirby falls off the stage and down below. Achieving a gold medal is not always easy. One untimely jump or careless encounter with an enemy or sharp object can utterly derail any chance of getting the coveted gold medal.
Completing the stage is more than medals however. Each level has three treasures to obtain in order to be mastered. The treasures, and even clusters of beads, are sometimes tucked away in areas reachable only through alternate paths in the stage. The levels are surprisingly quite large, and curiosity is encouraged.
The themes and design of the stages are what makes them so endearing. It is as if Nintendo and Good-Feel wanted to take as many concepts imaginable and weave them into the game's unique visual presentation. By the time it is over, Kirby will have driven down the backs of dinosaurs, floated across giant pages of sheet music as an eighth note, flown through space in a UFO, and even wrecked havoc upon a forest in his very own missile shooting tank that looks like the tiny pink piece of yarn who is operating the machine!
Gone is Kirby's ability to inhale his almost equally cute foes and mimic their attacks. A new whip used to unravel enemies or roll them into a ball of yarn, pull zippers, threads with buttons, and more, is now Kirby's primary offense. Kirby can also turn into a little car at anytime to gain speed, a parachute to gently float down from heights, and a heavy weight to smash through otherwise impregnable blocks of fabric.
Aside from Kirby's natural abilities in this game, some cool power-ups give the game a nice sense of unpredictability and smooth transitions of pace. Kirby becomes a fire-truck in a volcanic-like stage where tilting the Wii remote from side to side controls the hose that is nestled on his back. Dolphin Kirby is fast and controls beautifully, making the water stages something to look forward to, not abhor. Four-wheel Kirby enjoys his own stages which play as mini side-scrolling races.
The only power-up that fails is train-Kirby. Not that it was not a very cool idea, but drawing the tracks for train-Kirby to ride on is a clunky endeavor. It is really strange to see a game that Nintendo and Hal (along with Good-Feel) developed suffer from a lack of polish in this one area. Thankfully the train is the most rarely used power-up in the game, only appearing several times.
The soundtrack is a varied treat of instrumentation spanning across multiple genres of music. There are soothing twinkles of glockenspiel to rollicking piano pieces that rival the charm and bounce of Peanut's "Linus and Lucy" (Charlie Brown theme song). Electronic and tropical moments also occur. The soundtrack may be the most bizarre, unpredictable aspect of Epic Yarn, but it is simply lovely.
Kirby's epic adventure lasts for about eight hours. Add three or more to that number in pursuit of conquering everything in the game. It is mostly an easy, simplistic affair, but there are some challenging, even frustrating moments. It is a game that indulges the senses and provides a laid back, consistently pleasurable take on platforming. And that is no fabrication.