Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards

Welcome to the world of the Nintendo 64, one of the last Nintendo consoles to date that was seen as a top contender of the console wars.  Arguably the best console of its generation with many many hit games across its boards, that continue to garner the love and adoration of today's college kids and the parents that would get confused by the consoles that were to follow.  By the time Kirby 64 was launched in North America, the world was watching for the next Gen of consoles, with Nintendo featuring the Game cube in late 2001.  Kirby 64 released to the NA market in June of 2000 was one of the instant classics, with its inspiring soundtrack, memorable characters and the single moment in Kirby game history to feature the ability to combine the copy ability, creating many fun combinations for the player to try.  But how well did this game do?  

Story: 8
The story behind the Crystal Shards is revealed during the intro to the game upon a players first play through. A home world to the fairies is overrun by Dark Matter, the games antagonist.  During the invasion one of the Fairies takes off with the planets greatest treasure the Great Crystal.  The Dark matter sends minions to retrieve the Crystal which during the chase is destroyed and shattered into pieces.  The Fairy then finds herself in the company of our hero Kirby, and it is up to the puffball to gather the shards, help Ribbon (the fairy) save her home and defeat the Dark Matter. 
The story takes some fun curves along the way, rewarding the player with discovery using hidden shard pieces that can be found across the map.  These shards are not really required to beat the game, as the player must pass the stage and defeat the worlds boss before they move on.  Kirby must travel through 6 worlds in order to save the fairy home world, each having its own theme.

Depth: 8
Depth for the 2.5D game is rather good.  Despite the low world count (only having 6 worlds to travel to), each world contains about 4-6 Levels.  Each level does not take a large amount of time to go through, but if the player dies, they must go back to other levels or replay the same level to gain back abilities they prefer.  For example, I happen to like the electric and cutter abilities combined, creating a light saber.  If I were to die on a level with one of those two abilities missing, I would have to finish the level with one ability and go to another level I know has the other ability.  While this could get annoying, the amount of combinations can also provide players with many different attacks, some that will fit the player nicely.  This provides added depth, as no play through will be the same, and lends the player the ability to discover each combination in all the various levels

Difficulty: 6
Kirby 64 is a challenging game on an emulator especially, and while the levels are short, you can still die if you are not careful.  Some abilities if used in certain ways can get you killed faster than others.   It is recommended that if the player has advanced to the worlds boss stage, that the player should have an ability, or multiple abilities, that they are comfortable with using.  If the player decides to continue on to the boss battle, the difficulty will grow as the player has no reliable way to attack the boss.  However the game does give the player the ability to fight, as the boss will shoot objects or the player will find things around the arena to shoot back at the boss to do some damage.   The difficulty when playing on the original console however is lower, as the player can stack lives with either finding 1up's hidden in the level, or jumping on the 1up at the end of each level.  This also includes collecting stars, like collecting coins in Mario.

Graphics: 9
When a game comes out towards the end of a consoles life cycle, it is typical to see or expect gaming companies to have the highest quality in graphics.  Creators have studied what the console has to offer, and they begin to push the console to its limit.  Kirby's graphics are simple in some areas, but are well designed in others.  This game uses that boundary line of the consoles ability in graphics, including many different items in 3D, while the side scroller in the game wants to make it 2D.  The Crystal Shards is considered a 2.5D game, as it balances between the 3D open world and 2D side scroller which Hal pulls off very well.  The character movements are solid, bouncing is well designed and thought out, and the abilities display accurate control depending on the type of attack used.  A spike/Electric mix only attacks enemies above Kirby, while the Fire/Cutter damages whatever touches the fire sword.  Each Level and world follows the theme very nicely, even the bosses of the levels suit its theme very well

Sound: 10
Each level, boss fight, world has it's own unique soundtrack.  This makes the game rather enjoyable as the same song does not get played if the player advances without losing a life.  If the player does lose a life and replays the level, the tunes will not aggravate or annoy them.  The tunes of the soundtrack for the game are catchy, and each fit the theme of the level they are played on.  Kirby's soundtrack is a memorable audio file, that will make any gamer who has played it, remember the fond memories of the game.

Addictiveness: 10
Kirby 64 will make you want to play time and time again, with the memorable characters, catchy tunes, and goofy boss fights.  This game will take a few hours to play through, and does create lovely memories of its gameplay.  My favorite part about this game is the dual abilities, and the fun combinations by mixing abilities.  Earth/Electric, Fire/Ice, mix and match any two abilities and you have an interesting new attack!  Spike/Electric gives you a Lightning rod that summons a bolt from the heavens to strike foes above you, Fire/Cutter gives you a flaming sword that will destroy any who dare step in the swing radius.  Electric/Cutter gives you a dual lightsaber that will zap foes infront of you, and the list goes on.  Want to see some for yourself? go ahead and play this game! 

Overall I rate this game a 9.5 for what it offers the player, and the memories I have of beating this game after renting it from Movie Gallery and other game rental stores all the time.  I recommend you give it a try, I guarantee that you will enjoy this game hands down.  

Pretty solid review man. Awesome job on it! It has a good amount of detail and it is well-categorized and your details are well-organized and clear. You also had a nice hook to grab a reader's attention at the beginning of the review. Keep writing these quality reviews man.