KIRBY AND THE
FORGOTTEN LANDS

So, to start... I'm not the hugest kirby fan. And that's not to say I don't enjoy Kirby! I played it a whole bunch in my youth, downloaded every Kirby game on my computer to emulate, but as I got older I lost a lot of my love for the series. I think, bottom line, it's just a bit too easy for how my gaming tastes have developed. Which is fine, Kirby was never meant to be a challenging game by any stretch, but I'd find myself mindlessly blowing through the game not really thinking about what I was doing and that's no fun. But that wasn't really the case here! For one, I really enjoyed the setting. And the gameplay was a lot more engaging than I've found other Kirby ttiles to be.

SETTING 8/10

What's story in a Kirby game? Kirby games have been typical, cartoony platformer fare in terms of storytelling (except for Kirby's Dreamland 3 which involved eldritch horrors from space???). Get to the end and beat the guy. The characters are goofy and serve more to make the gameplay happen. However, in Kirby and the Forgotten Lands, there's another layer. The story is still not exactly present in typical terms, with arcs and dramatic beats, but something is defintely going on what with the whole interdimenional portal to a modern, human-like world.

I've always been a fan of the overgrown apocalypse aesthetic, no matter how overplayed it may be in today's creative age, and this game does it really well here. The setting is both desolate and vibrant in a way that made me involved in the world and more curious about what may have happened in this new place Kirby's found himself in. The game could have used the new setting and the narrative mysteries it creates as an apportunity to throw a bunch of nonsense storytelling gimmicks in your face (ie. new characters that spill exposition constantly), but it doesn't! And I really appreciate that. It's not afraid to let the player wonder and use their imagination until the reveal pays off at the end.

GAMEPLAY 7/10

I mentioned above that Kirby games got a bit too easy for me, and that still stands true in the Forgotten Lands. I did find myself going through sections of levels with my brain off just jumping around getting bad guys. The Big Mouth sections help break up the gameplay a bit, and I expected these sections to be way too gimmicky and not fun, but I honestly had a blast every time one popped up. My favorites are the vending machine, using a boat with the ring mouth, and of course... the car!! I loved the car sections and I love how they set it up time attack style so you can keep doing those sections to perfect your time.

The hub world Waddle Dee Town was kinda nice, even if I never really got up to anything there. I appreciate the effort to give the player a few cute activites to do, and the battle colloseum is cool. I think the thing I got up to the most in town was getting toys out of the gacha machines.

I did enjoy the level missions and the star quests around the map. The missions kept me engaged during the levels and they're actually fairly challenging sometimes! They are implemented in ways that make eploring and observing level details really rewarding. And the star quests challenged me to use powers I may not have otherwise wnated to use in fun, short burst style levels.

Which kinda leads to my only real gripe about the gameplay... I found most of the powers kinda... boring. I was really only drawn to a handful of them, the sword, the gun and the hammer being stand outs. To compare, I started up Kirby Superstar right after I beat this cause I was on a Kirby high, and I found most of the power ups in Dyna Blade way more engaging and fun. There were also instances where I would upgrade a weapon, which is a really cool mechanic in general, but would be kinda disappointed by the upgraded version. Overall, I felt like once I gravitated towards one or two powerups, I would just go to the hub world and grab those ones every time and would feel no incentive to try other powerups. To that end, I enjoyed doing the star road stuff since it forced me to use a power I wouldn't normally pick.

GRAPHICS 10/10

I love the graphics!! The colors in this game really pop out at you, especially on an OLED Switch and the tilt shift thing going on makes it feel like you're playing with toys the whole time. The big boss enemies are pretty intimidating and they are rendered really nicely. There's a scene in the beginning when a big huge gorilla guy looks through a window at you and then reaches in to nab you and the whole sequence was done really well. There's also a part at the very end that I don't wanna spoil that had my eyes popping out of my head at it.

Like I mentioned above, I've always liked settings with overgrown ancient ruins that are actually modern day buildings, and this game's take on it is great. Kirby games by nature are bright and poppy and bursting with color, so it's refreshing seeing the barren wasteland that is our modern day civilization all collapsed and run down and rendered with such a lively aesthetic.

MUSIC 7/10

Just like the graphics, Kirby music is pretty much always catchy and snappy to match the colors. While it's always fun, I find that there are only every one or two standout tunes in any given Kirby game.

I did enjoy the theme song with lyrics that this game got! And a few of the level themes were really hummable. Not much to say about the music honestly, but it gets a 7 because I never found myself hating it, and the songs I did like I really liked!

FUN! 7/10

This game is fun!! Fun enough for me to finish at least! I don't do that very often so it must say something. I will say I had the most fun towards the end of the game, during the last world and lead up to the final bosses. The challenge really ramped up during those sections and the final boss fights kept me on my toes. I also had the most fun I think doing the Star Road challenges. They really forced me to think outside of my usual power ups and I like that they're just neat little platforming levels you can blow through quickly and practice your best times.

All in all, Kirby and the Forgotten Lands is a great game for Kirby fans, platform fans and fans of super cute little things running around being cute. Despite some boring segments and power-ups that sometimes fell flat, overall this is a fun Kirby outing with a lot of depth and room to experiment and cut your battle chops.

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