Game Reviews

"It kind of looks like Little Big Planet." I get the first-glance comparison. Maybe it's because ever since the PS3 platformer drew our eyes with its arts and crafts-y aesthetic full of cleverly arranged bric-a-brac, we've yet to see another title pull off that style of carefully constructed simplicity. So when you see Kirby's Epic Yarn's fantastically vibrant visuals -- also featuring a yarn-spun protagonist -- well, it's human nature to categorize and relate the new to the old.

Despite any "Kirby formula" preconceptions you might hold, Epic Yarn should still surprise you. Throwing most of an established series' playbook out the window can be risky, but here it's paid off. Rather than focusing on the adorable pink icon's ability to consume and replicate enemy powers, the game is crafted around the titular yarn motif, and the ingenuity with which Nintendo explores that theme had me positively beaming my first time through the game.

Interestingly enough, Epic Yarn's cut-scenes -- narrated storybook style -- pleasantly remind me of Little King's Story. But let's be honest: for an adult, it's all terribly cheesy. The basic premise of the game is that the evil Yin Yarn has gotten his hands on a magical sock (not a joke), which he's using to turn everything into yarn-creatures under his command. In his quest for world domination and other such sinister endeavors, he manages to rip asunder Prince Fluff's kingdom.