One day, cute little Kirby was having a picnic with his favorite snack, strawberry shortcake. Suddenly, the cake vanished.
That’s where the latest game in Nintendo’s Kirby series starts. “Kirby Squeak Squad� for Nintendo DS is an enjoyable and adorable game that is both interesting and easy to play. Kirby is no wimp, after all, he can breathe fire and he wants his cake back.
Like the majority of Kirby games, “Squeak Squad� is a 2-D side scroller. The game play is virtually identical to previous Kirby games.
Kirby can inhale enemies and gain their powers. Then Kirby has to find the doorways and finish the level.
The twist here is that there are treasures in each level that need to be found. New abilities for this game include “cupid,� where Kirby has wings, a halo and can shoot arrows, and “bubble,� which lets Kirby collect and store items and powers to use later.
Kirby̢۪s main objective is to defeat the evil King Dedede and the Squeaks, the rodents who stole his shortcake.
In each level, there is at least one treasure chest that Kirby has to find and complete the level with. Touching enemies can cause Kirby to drop the treasure and his enemies will steal it.
The large treasure chests are the most difficult to retrieve.
As soon as Kirby touches one, he is swarmed by the Squeaks. If he doesn̢۪t get away fast enough, the Squeaks will take the treasure to their hideout, where Kirby must defeat all of them to get his treasure back.
Other fun bonuses include the ability to change Kirby̢۪s color from the usual pink to other choices found throughout the game. Different treasure chests contain the ability to turn different colors, like green, yellow and gray.
Abilities can also be mixed. For example, mixing fire ability and sword ability will result in “fire sword.� In some of the treasure chests, there are secret keys that open new levels and mini-games.
The only real drawback is that all the treasure chests eventually have to be found. They contain items that are required to advance through the game.
More often than not, levels must be replayed multiple times in order to collect everything.
“Kirby Squeak Squad� utilizes the DS’s touch screen ability only in a limited way.
The majority of the controls are handled with the regular buttons. The only real use for the touchpad is with some of the bonus games, which have no bearing on success or failure in the main game.
“Kirby Squeak Squad� fits right in as another classic Nintendo game with many elements that players will be familiar with.
The game has all the lovable original characters and a few new ones as well. Players who first met Kirby in the NES game “Kirby’s Dream Land� and new players alike will find the game equally interesting and enjoyable.
