Can Kirby become King of the Brawlers?
Kirby Battle Royale is a brawler played from a top-down perspective in arenas against other versions of himself in a story campaign, plus it has multiplayer, both locally and online. But what else does the game offer?
The game contains other modes such as Apple Scramble which sees you compete to shake a tree down for apples and place them in the base for points. Coin Clash pits you against other Kirbys in a haunted mansion collecting coins, Attack Riders is where you collect money from other Kirbys in which a vehicle can be driven for an advantage, Crazy Theatre is a mix up of random objectives such as dodging asteroids, avoiding blasts, carrying apples and so on.
Rocket Rumble is much like the classic game Jetpac with Kirbys taking green cubes to their rockets to blast off and the rocket that goes the highest wins, while Robo Bonkers is a mode where a character of the same name must be hit for points. Slam Jockey contains a massive hockey puck that gets knocked around till it makes contact with other Kirbys and knocking them out of the arena while Ore Express makes Kirbys collect ore and place them in train cars and finally Flagball is a mode where players bring a coloured ball to their flag.
All in all, there’s a good variety of modes to be found here and it’s great that you can compete with friends locally or online. The story mode itself is actually pretty decent too and while it doesn’t exactly have a great plot or anything, does enough to warrant itself. As with most 3DS games these days, the game is only playable in 2D which isn’t surprising but still a little frustrating that we’re slowly losing the option of it. Visually, the game is surprisingly strong for a 3DS game. It’s simplistic, but vibrant and runs at a solid framerate. The music is classic Kirby too.
The Verdict
Kirby Battle Royale is actually an impressive brawler with a nice variety of modes that will keep you more than busy. My only real issue is exactly how long it will last before it gets samey, but other than that this is a good entry for the Kirby series.