The classic Kirby platform games of years gone by are still adored by gamers around the globe and they've launched Kirby to the status of world-famous mascot. He's an icon, but his last couple of appearances have been far removed from those of years gone by, such as Kirby: Canvas Curse, which aimed to make use of the stylus in Kirby's world. Though the game was actually incredibly fun and made great use of his abilities, it's time for something a little more traditional.

Kirby: Squeak Squad makes very little use of the stylus, instead playing like a traditional side-scrolling platform title - and indeed like a classic Kirby game. If you haven't had the pleasure of playing with the pink puffball in the past then you're in for a treat. You see, the little guy has a huge mouth and can suck up just about anything. In fact, that's his main form of attack, and it leads to his real power - copying the abilities of anything that he swallows. Aside from doing a sliding kick, sucking up air to float higher and spitting it out as an attack, Kirby must suck in and swallow enemies to mimic their attacks. Suck up a sword-wielding guard and Kirby gets a green cap and sword, allowing him to slice through levels and with half a dozen all-new attacks. That's just one of the abilities he can mimic; I honestly lost count of all of them along the way! Some have limited attacks, some have a huge amount of new abilities and some play a purpose that isn't apparent right away. There are boomerangs, laser beams, even rolling tires that burn rubber through levels. A magic bubble wand allows you to capture enemies' powers within bubbles to save for use later - these are stored on the bottom screen and can be activated with a touch at any time.

Other items, such as health, treasure chests and extra lives are captured in bubbles and stored below, but you can only hold up to five items. Some bubbles can be merged with others to create new items or generate an extra life, so there's a lot to experiment with and discover on the bottom screen alone. Match that with the depth offered by Kirby's numerous abilities and the hidden areas they can lead to and you've got a platform adventure with enough depth to please hardcore vets of side scrollers while the newcomers will be amazed at all the fun to be had with Kirby's abilities and their face value alone, not to mention just enjoying the clever level designs!

The game can be a little slow to get going, with short and fairly uneventful levels, but this is balanced out with some really great levels later on, with some very tricky hidden treasure to discover and then trying to make sure you have the right ability mimicked to reach it. This leads to yet another unique aspect; whenever you find a level's large treasure chest, a huge rat appears and attempts to steal it from you. Getting hit causes you to drop it and the rat then snatches it and tries to run away. It allows each level with a chest to have its own little boss that is actually a lot of fun to fight when you factor in all the elements and ways to defeat it, and if you find them too tough or just don't want to bother then you can skip the chests altogether!

Finding them, however, leads to a lot of great items. Artwork, puzzles, new colors for Kirby, sound tests and all sorts of goodies can be unlocked with each chest you find - even some bonus levels and mini-games. In all, Kirby is a fantastic platform game that you'd really only find on a Nintendo handheld and I'd expect no less from a game with the legendary HAL Studios backing it!

Graphically, Squeak Squad is Nintendo charm at its best. The multi-layered backgrounds are really a joy to look at in all their colorful glory and the world of Dream Land is great fun to run through as you suck up a great number of unique enemies, discovering all the new abilities - and with them the new animations. You'll be surprised at just how many you'll continue to find as you make your way through the game too! Collecting move scrolls even allows you to unleash new attacks and animations previously unavailable, by adding new effects to familiar moves. While the sound doesn't do a whole lot we've never heard before, it does what we expect very well. The music is cheerful and charming in a classic MIDI style unheard anywhere but on the DS these days, with plenty of fun and fitting sound effects for all of Kirby's various abilities. All of these elements combine to create a wonderful package with enough charm and engrossing gameplay to enthrall anybody who picks it up.

Always discovering new abilities and then discovering new ways to use them (freezing water, cutting down tall grass with the sword, rolling by spikes as a tire) will keep you addicted throughout the whole of Kirby: Squeak Squad. The unique structure of the boss battles, hidden items to find and strategy involved with mixing abilities, managing your inventory - which is effectively Kirby's stomach - and deciding how to take down each enemy really makes Squeak Squad one of the best platform adventures you can find today. Try it and see for yourself - once you've got hold of it you'll gobble it up completely!

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).