irby’s a guy who has his priorities straight, and I’ve got to respect that. Just before he’s about to sit down and enjoy some well-earned strawberry shortcake, it is snatched away by a bunch of cutesy animal ne’er-do-wells. Not one to take that kind of thing lying down, Kirby leaps into action to save his dessert, a journey that will take him across the world and eventually into the far reaches of space. Now that’s the kind of gumption I like to see in my video game characters.

I was a huge fan of last year’s Canvas Curse, which had Kirby rolling around with one of the best uses of the touch screen the DS has seen. For Squeak Squad (a reference to those dastardly cake-thieves), Kirby is back to trotting along as he eats and absorbs his enemies. It’s a return to tradition I could have done without in the early levels of this new game, which play out as some of the simplest and least interesting I’ve seen in a platformer in years. Thankfully, the difficulty and complexity of the level design improves as the game wears on. Kirby’s ability to endlessly eat and absorb the powers of what he digests is not only enviable, but pretty darn fun in practice. From breathing fire to donning a magic top hat to transforming into a UFO, every ability offers a little something different. The bottom screen is effectively an X-ray view of Kirby’s stomach contents, where additional powers, food, and treasure chests are stored. Tapping these powers should happen faster and without frustration, but it’s a minor problem.

There are plenty of unlockables to collect on your journey, but gathering them all is the only real reason to keep playing after you smash through your first playthrough. It’s hard for me to imagine that you don’t have better things to do with your time than the silly little multiplayer minigames that are included, but they’re there if you want them. Kirby’s return to tradition didn’t wow me like his first DS roll in the hay. Still, while I might argue with his methods, no one can dispute the results – everybody likes to end their day with a piece of cake.