Kirby & the Amazing Mirror has a lot of issues. It's unintuitive in its structure and straining under the weight of its ambition. The one-way doors and easily lost Copy Abilities of other Kirby games make less sense in the context of Amazing Mirror's entirely contiguous world, and do hamper this experience: one that is much larger and open than both the games which came before and after it.
It's easy to get frustrated while wandering around the circular and seemingly illogical world of Amazing Mirror, tracking down the 8 Mirror Shards needed to finish the game. But in the course of doing so, in the course of really sticking with the game, you come to hear its one refrain louder and louder as you play: "just go explore."
And so I did. I just allowed myself to drift about and learn how the world ticks. What I really appreciate about Amazing Mirror is that it pairs the lax spirit of the full Kirby series with a surprising level of challenge and open-ended design, allowing you to wander through an uncharacteristically hostile world, parsing out its secrets and rules as you go.
Doing so is a lot of fun: figuring out the quirks of the misleading map, discovering how to best employ the help of your friends and AI to explore the beautifully-drawn and exceptionally scored landscape ahead of you. Doubtlessly the best-realized Kirby world aesthetically. The excitement of forging just a bit further, finding the next shortcut door, finding that tucked-away boss fight or health upgrade, is immensely rewarding and deepens the appeal of Kirby without losing sight of the series' basic charms.
It's easy to get frustrated while wandering around the circular and seemingly illogical world of Amazing Mirror, tracking down the 8 Mirror Shards needed to finish the game. But in the course of doing so, in the course of really sticking with the game, you come to hear its one refrain louder and louder as you play: "just go explore."
And so I did. I just allowed myself to drift about and learn how the world ticks. What I really appreciate about Amazing Mirror is that it pairs the lax spirit of the full Kirby series with a surprising level of challenge and open-ended design, allowing you to wander through an uncharacteristically hostile world, parsing out its secrets and rules as you go.
Doing so is a lot of fun: figuring out the quirks of the misleading map, discovering how to best employ the help of your friends and AI to explore the beautifully-drawn and exceptionally scored landscape ahead of you. Doubtlessly the best-realized Kirby world aesthetically. The excitement of forging just a bit further, finding the next shortcut door, finding that tucked-away boss fight or health upgrade, is immensely rewarding and deepens the appeal of Kirby without losing sight of the series' basic charms.