Kirby Air Riders Review: A Game Design Masterclass

On paper, Kirby Air Riders sounds way too simple to be fun. A racing game where you speed automatically and have only two button controls? But the more you play the game the more you realize that Kirby Air Riders is an incredible genre mash up with a lot of depth and masterful game design.

But what exactly is Kirby Air Riders?

At first glance you might think Kirby Air Riders is like Mario Kart. You drive around a track and collect items to attack your opponents and finish in first place. So far so familiar, but that's where the similarities end. Air Riders is a much faster game. Speed wise it reminded me more of F-Zero than Mario Kart. The tracks are also filled with enemies, defeating those while you drive by will give you a small boost.

Furthermore, the game isn't called “Air Riders” for no reason. Tracks have plenty of ramps that let you fly high up. Depending on your machine this can be a very important element. Speaking of machines there are plenty of different ones to unlock and choose from and those play very differently.

Firstly you have of course stats. Some machines fly better, others are faster or are better at drifting. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Many machines have extra mechanics built in. One of my favorites for example is the jet rocket which is in general rather slow but gets a huge boost as soon as you use a ramp.

Choosing your favorite machine and rider combination can alter the game feeling extremely and plays a key role in some of the other modes, but more on that later. The aspect of fighting plays a big role as well. Your machine has a health bar and attacking enemies boosts you. So to win a race you don't just have to drive well you also have to keep on fighting.

All of this results in races and requires fast thinking and reflexes. The game quickly gets you into an exciting adrenalin rush. After playing a few rounds you will quickly realize that Kirby Air Riders can't be compared to other racing games. It's something unique and different.

Racing is only the beginning

The above mentioned Air Ride mode is just one of four game modes. You also have Top Ride which is a mini version of Air Ride. In this mode you play from an eagle eye view on way smaller courses. It honestly reminds me a bit of micromachines. It's a fun distraction but clearly the least exciting and fleshed out mode.

One of the center modes of Kirby Air Riders is City Trial. This mode is a beast on its own and honestly hard to describe. It's a kind of battle royal. You get thrown into a city with 16 other players and have 5 minutes to build up your machine.

So you drive around and try to find the right upgrades or machines. Battle against the other players on the way and participate in random events that can happen all over the map. Those events can be anything from small contests to full-on boss fights.

At the end of the 5 minutes you get to choose one of four challenges you want to participate in. There are plenty of different challenges each aimed at different aspects of the game. Some are combat challenges, others races or flight challenges. Choosing the right challenges for your stats and machine is the key to winning here.

In the beginning City Trial feels like a fun and messy mode. However the more you play it the more you will see behind the curtain. I don't dare to judge yet how E-Sports friendly the mode in the end really is but it can be highly competitive. Knowing all the ins and outs of the game is key in winning here and there are plenty of mind games involved.

Road Trip the secretly highlight of Air Riders

Now let's talk about the last mode of the bunch, Road Trip. This mode was my biggest surprise while playing Kirby Air Riders. Road Trip is the single player mode of the game. Each run takes up to three hours. During that time you will go through 10 different zones each containing many different small challenges. Most of the time you can choose between one of three challenges. Each giving different stat rewards.

So again like in City Trail you slowly build up your own build and decide which stats you want to focus on. What really surprised me are the challenges themselves. Sakurai and his team unleashed their full creativity here. Firstly you have of course all kinds of challenges you would expect based on the other modes. So combat, flying, racing, time trial and so on. However this is not where it ends.

From time to time you will encounter real boss fights. Just to name one example during my playthrough I faced off against a gigantic eye. The encounter starts by me trying to reach the eye. In this case it felt like a bullet hell game as the eye keeps on shooting many different projectiles at you, which you have to dodge in order to reach him. Then you can collect power ups to damage him up close before he pushes you back again and so on.

There are many, very different encounters like this one and they all are visually spectacular, well designed and simply exciting to play! Another important aspect of Road Trip is that you can collect different machines during your playthrough. Swapping between those is extremely important especially the further you get in your run. That's because Road Trip can be surprisingly difficult.

I had to restart many challenges multiple times, as they can be really hard. But the genius aspect of this is that it teaches you the fine mechanics of the game in a very natural way. If you repeat a race three times without seeing a chance of victory you naturally start to try out other machines and slowly learn about the strengths and weaknesses of each. It makes you a better player and is damn fun while doing so.

On top of all of this Road Trip is filled with beautiful cutscenes and a short but surprisingly cool little story. Don't expect the next Expedition 33 here, but the story does have some cool surprises up its sleeves.

A game made with love

The icing on the cake then is that the game is filled with content. The game offers a robust online mode for each different mode, great machine customising and tons of big and small things to unlock. No matter if you play singleplayer only or online the game will keep you entertained for a long time.

I honestly can't think of much that could have been improved here. The only thing that bothered me for a long time is that the attack button is bound to shake the control stick. To me even after hours of playing this felt imprecise and I wish I could just bind it to a face button.

But this is pretty much it. Otherwise, I honestly feel Sakurai created a perfect game. No one asked for this game and I feel like many will sleep on it and think, “I don't need another cart racer”, but Kirby Air Riders is so much more. It's a unique genre mix, crafted with love, care and so much hidden depth. A true masterclass in game design and a game I will play for many years to come.

Rating: Masterpiece