Kirby’s Blowout Blast

Genre: 3D Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Kirby’s Blowout Blast, released on the Nintendo 3DS in 2017, is an expanded version of a minigame first introduced in Kirby: Planet Robobot in 2016. And technically, this game holds the distinction of being a family-friendly 3D Kirby Platformer a half decade before the release of Kirby and the Forgotten Land on the Nintendo Switch. So, you might be wondering, why didn’t it receive more attention for this feat than Forgotten Land is now basking in?

Functionally, Kirby’s Blowout Blast works very well. Controlling Kirby feels natural in 3D, and the Platforming feels natural, as does fighting enemies. In many series’ earliest 3D forays there are a lot of learning pains that Blowout Blast easily avoids.

The problem is, Kirby’s Blowout Blast is exceptionally bland and simple. There are no copy abilities, stages are short and have little in the way of platforming variety. I would compare the style of stages to the sort of obstacle course-style stages seen in Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World, except those games were far more lengthy and varied than this is – Blowout Blast’s stages are mostly a flat series of platforms with some enemies scattered about them.

Those enemies are the primary focus here – players are tasked with taking them out as quickly and efficiently as possible, using only the inhale ability (no copy abilities, I’m sorry to say). Players are encouraged to try to inhale multiple enemies at once, both to save time and to get a more powerful projectile to blast at other enemies. However, this hardly feels like a difficult or particularly inspired mechanic, especially since it’s just a version of a mechanic that’s been in the 3D Kirby games since the beginning.

The presentation here is okay, but nothing special for the series – certainly nothing to compare to the visuals in Kirby Triple Deluxe and Planet Robobot. Likewise, the music here has some good remixes of classic themes, but nothing truly exceptional.

Honestly, Kirby’s Blowout Blast feels more like a proof of concept rather than a full Kirby game. Mechanically, everything here works well, and this feels like a great way to bring Kirby Platformers into 3D… but beyond that, there just isn’t enough to do with him here. This is a decent time-waster for $7, and perhaps some of the concepts tested out here will make their way into Kirby and the Forgotten Land, but otherwise it’s hard to see this as anything but a disappointment if you were expecting an actual complete game.

tl;dr – Kirby’s Blowout Bash is a family-friendly 3D Platformer that brings Kirby’s typical Platforming adventures into the third dimension largely intact and functional, but not much else. This works, and is a decent inexpensive time-waster, but it feels less like a game and more like a proof-of-concept. It’s still enjoyable, but as an actual game it’s something of a disappointment.

Grade: C+

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