TonyPayload Kirby Air Riders Review

When I was a young boy, I played Kirby air ride on Nintendo GameCube. I didn’t really understand the game much but I liked flying around in city trial on the stars. Now I am in my 30s and I was gifted Kirby air riders for Christmas. I played the game for about 30 minutes on Christmas Day and didn’t play it again until mid April. On the first day I played the game I did the tutorials and did some Air ride races. I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t understand the game much at all. I felt like it was this weird combination of a fighting game and a racing game. Looking at the Metacritic score, I noticed that the users seem to like the game more than the critics so I wanted to figure out why people liked it, so I decided to force myself to play the game a few more times, and I’m so happy I did. I remember the clear transition between the day where I was forcing myself to play Kirby Air riders, to the day where I was craving to play the game. I remember at the beginning when I was trying to learn the game in air ride mode, I didn’t understand what that trail of stars behind the other riders was, or why I would make my character spin. I didn’t understand so many things about the game until I continued playing it more and then I realized it was much deeper than I initially thought. I remember when I first picked up the game I thought it was an unbalanced kart racer with very few buttons, but as I played it, I realized I was wrong. I started noticing the amazing and intricate course design, how when you land perfectly you get a boost, how when you spin and hit an enemy player or an enemy you also get a boost. I noticed that when you follow the star trail behind somebody you pick up speed. I then started noticing that all the abilities you pick up by sucking up enemies, modify your spinning, or modify your boost/inhale button. I found it so cool that when you picked up the fire ability, that you can shoot a fireball behind you, shoot it in front of you at enemies, and if you shake your thumb stick, you will do a fireball dash forward. I started noticing that when you picked up the plasma ability, you could charge it up, but at the different levels of charge, It shoots out a different bolts of plasma which do different things. I started looking at all the other abilities that you have in the game, all the ways the different vehicles, and all the ways the map allows you to play, and I started piecing it together and realized that this game is much more complex than I thought. I noticed that different routes on the map suit, different vehicles and riders better. I noticed that you have to adjust your strategy based on which vehicle you have on a given map. I’ve played a little bit of city trial, and I’m starting to pick up on what the game designer intended for this mode as well. Additionally, I love the way the game progresses. It gives you clear goals at the bottom of your screen when you playing a Air ride race. It tells you to do something like fly over the finish line, and then you’ll get a reward for it. Once you do that the next time you do a race on the same map, you will get another goal to achieve to unlock something else. This makes the game very straightforward and easy to play. It’s amazing to me because I’m used to games that require a grand campaign, and a Big story mode, but the simplicity of this game is a total breath of fresh air. To me, Kirby Air riders is a game that you just play. You don’t have to invest your time into some mediocre story. You don’t have to do extensive tutorials to figure out the game. You just play it. I left the game in its box for four months, and I regret the fact that I did, but I’m so happy that I figured out the game. I’m obviously not a critic, but the only negative thing I can say about this game is that there’s not a lot of people who play it. And I think it’s because they don’t know what the game is , just like I didn’t. I know my brother and his girlfriend both have the game and they don’t play it, because they don’t know what the game really is about. I think if more people give this game a chance they would put it in their forever beloved games list. It’s a great game to play when you only have a few minutes. To me, it’s action, packed, full of depth and its mechanics, but simple enough that you won’t leave the game and forget how to play it once you learn it. I could imagine playing Kirby air riders is like driving a manual car like an MX-5 Miata, or riding a bike. Once you learn how to do it, you don’t forget, and it’s something fun that you can do forever. I honestly think this game is a masterpiece, and I believe that the critics who think this game is only just decent, probably don’t understand the game. This is coming from somebody who mainly plays Apex legends, overwatch, Gran Turismo 7, and Dota2. I’m somebody who really likes complex games, where there’s a lot of things to learn and I would like to apologize to Masahiro Sakurai for leaving his game in its box for four months. What a mistake it was, and what a mistake would’ve been if I never picked the game up and actually gave it a chance.