Kirby's Epic Yarn for Wii is the latest 2D platformer in the Kirby franchise. The E3 demo shows off the title's core mechanic: Kirby's ability to whip things with a piece of yarn, grab them, and then manipulate them.

The game's visuals are the best place to start with Epic Yarn. Everything in the game - from the world, to the enemies, and Kirby himself - are made of yarn.

Kirby is comprised of an outline, drawn in pink yarn (hence the game's name). It's a colorful and playful look that really only works for a franchise like Kirby. Clearly, this is his Paper Mario.

The game controls with the Wii Remote in the NES formation. The D-Pad moves Kirby, 1 jumps and 2 unfurls his yarn whip. While Kirby's trademark power (the ability to suck foes into his elastic esophagus) is nowhere to be seen, the game manages to still feel like a Kirby title. When Kirby jumps and the 1 button is held down he turns into a parachute, drifting slowly torwards the ground. When in flight, if down is pressed on the D-pad Kirby turns into an anvil and crushes everything beneath him. One of the more amusing transformations was double tapping a direction, which caused Kirby to take the shape of a sports car and move at high speed. Kirby even feels like he did in the old game, moving with a distinct lack of heft.

The demo I played spanned three stages. The first simply taught the basics of the whip mechanic. Enemies could be picked up, and summarily killed. Or, for more creative applications, when the 1 Button was held down the enemies would be transformed into a ball of yarn that Kirby could then hold over his head. A second tap of the 1 Button sent the ball of yarn flying. Various things in the level, such as shapes made of yarn and buttons, can be grabbed, pulled, and removed by the whip. Often times this causes the level to change shape, granting access to additional areas.

The second stage focused on deforming the stage. At one point Kirby was confronted by a castle that he couldn't jump over. By grabbing the square, outlined in brown cord, Kirby was able to remove the block and reveal a door. By pressing up Kirby was then able to enter the castle. From inside he could climb platforms, outlined on the exterior of the castle, which caused the side of the castle to distort like a piece of cloth with a ball under it. Once at the top he was confronted with a tower he couldn't climb over. Instead, the whip is used to grab a button that was stitched into the castle tower, pulling it down to him. He could then climb up, and after a few seconds the tower returned to its original height, with him on its summit.

Other things, like patches (which can be ripped off) and zippers (which can be opened, peeling away the attached fabric that makes up the stages) are sprinkled throughout.

The second stage ended with Kirby getting in a giant round tank and firing missles at enemies who were trying to impede his progress. It was actually a fun change of pace mid-level, and provided a silly event to laugh at.

The third stage was the dragon boss from the E3 trailer. He took turns shooting fireballs at you, launching his tongue like a spear, and spitting out this button attached to his tongue like a weapon. To beat him, I had to catch the fireballs with my whip and throw them back at him. That stunned the dragon, which caused him to fly into the background. Once he returned he launched the spear tongue at me and after that launched out the button that made up his jaw. Grabbing it with the whip and walking backwards until it snapped out of Kirby's hand, and down the dragon's throat would cause the dragon to take damage. After three repetitions of that, the dragon was gone.

Throughout the game Kirby collects "beads". The beads are all over the stages and are also dropped by enemies. When a foe hits Kirby he loses all of his beads and the scatter about, not unlike Sonic and his rings. It's not clear to me how Kirby can die, but if I had to guess it would be if he runs out of beads.

Kirby's Epic Yarn also features co-op multiplayer, which I did not experience but is being shown. In the multiplayer a second character that is very similar to Kirby, but blue and wearing a crown, comes along with him. He seems to play the same as his pink comrade.

Kirby's Epic Yarn looks like it's a really creative game. It has potential to be a simple, but silly and fun title. The ability to hunt out secret areas and deform the stages are interesting, and should add to what is at its core a simple platformer.