Let me start off by saying that I am by no means a die-hard Kirby fan, I've played a few of the games in the past and really enjoyed most of them, but Kirby has never been one of my fave series and I mostly consider myself a very casual fan and this game didn't quite reach the heights of older Kirby games to me though it was still a lot of fun!
The plot is simple enough, Kirby and friends get transported via a dimensional vortex from Planet Popstar to the Forgotten Land which is a post-apocalyptic world. All the Waddle Dees get kidnapped by beasts and Kirby has to save them.
The level design is vibrant and colorful with plenty of diverse locations to explore, everything from ruined cities to an amusement park to a beach and even a volcano, my biggest complaint in the level design is the post apocalyptic setting just isn't as interesting as the fantastical places Kirby has been in the past and sometimes the levels feel a bit too linear, but there's still plenty of secrets to be found and side missions to be done in each individual level. The Waddle Dees basically act as the typical collectable you need to find to unlock the next stage or boss like Super Mario Odyssey's moons.
There is a hub world called Waddle Dee Town and the more Waddle Dee you free and collect they rebuild the town so there are shops, an arena, various mini-games like fishing and capsule figure collecting and other things to occupy your time and while most of it is superficial, it's still a nice place to take a break from the main story once in awhile.
The combat is simple although still fun. There's 12 different Copy Abilities and they all have their own unique move-set, but that move-set has been cut in half from other Kirby games and iconic Copy Abilities like Fighter or Ninja aren't in the game at all, each Copy Ability can be upgraded twice back at the weapon shop in Waddle Dee Town with the blueprints and star coins you find throughout the various levels, but in my personal opinion I find the balancing very poor because a lot of the Copy Abilities are just not good and others are so much stronger, so I don't know why anyone would ever choose to use certain ones over others unless they were forced to use one due to an environmental puzzle.
The boss fights are creative, enjoyable to fight and very well designed, much like most Kirby games the final boss is the absolute highlight and best part of the game. The mini-bosses you fight throughout the various stages get a bit repetitive and are reused too much IMO.
The music is absolutely phenomenal, very diverse and every track fits each of the locations perfectly. From the whimsical adventurous themes to the more ambient and mystical themes and even bombastic, you'll hear it all in this OST and it's right up there with some of the best Kirby music.
One last thing I have to mention is the difficulty is just nonexistent. This game is the anti-Dark Souls. When people say 'games should just be fun' they're talking about games like this because in my entire playthrough I didn't die a single time or feel even remotely challenged (I was playing on 'Wild Mode' the hardest difficult too) and honestly maybe I've just become too much of a masochist in the past few years, but challenge and difficulty have become a big part of my enjoyment in games and playing this right after two excruciatingly hard games like Elden Ring and Stranger of Paradise just made it obvious how much easier this game was to me.
All in all Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a very safe and typical platformer, but that's not a bad thing honestly. It's a tried and true formula that works for a reason and the fact the game feels so familiar completely made me forget this is Kirby's first foray into pure 3D because it's such a natural transition, you'd think Kirby had been a 3D title for years.
Despite being such a safe game The Forgotten Land is packed with beautiful levels, fun puzzles, simple, but addictive combat, creative bosses and incredible music and while I would've liked more variety in Copy Abilities with more in-depth movesets and better balancing, less reused mini-bosses and some actual challenging gameplay once in while even if you've been a casual Kirby fan in the past like me or enjoy other Nintendo platformers like Mario Odyssey this is still worth a play.
The plot is simple enough, Kirby and friends get transported via a dimensional vortex from Planet Popstar to the Forgotten Land which is a post-apocalyptic world. All the Waddle Dees get kidnapped by beasts and Kirby has to save them.
The level design is vibrant and colorful with plenty of diverse locations to explore, everything from ruined cities to an amusement park to a beach and even a volcano, my biggest complaint in the level design is the post apocalyptic setting just isn't as interesting as the fantastical places Kirby has been in the past and sometimes the levels feel a bit too linear, but there's still plenty of secrets to be found and side missions to be done in each individual level. The Waddle Dees basically act as the typical collectable you need to find to unlock the next stage or boss like Super Mario Odyssey's moons.
There is a hub world called Waddle Dee Town and the more Waddle Dee you free and collect they rebuild the town so there are shops, an arena, various mini-games like fishing and capsule figure collecting and other things to occupy your time and while most of it is superficial, it's still a nice place to take a break from the main story once in awhile.
The combat is simple although still fun. There's 12 different Copy Abilities and they all have their own unique move-set, but that move-set has been cut in half from other Kirby games and iconic Copy Abilities like Fighter or Ninja aren't in the game at all, each Copy Ability can be upgraded twice back at the weapon shop in Waddle Dee Town with the blueprints and star coins you find throughout the various levels, but in my personal opinion I find the balancing very poor because a lot of the Copy Abilities are just not good and others are so much stronger, so I don't know why anyone would ever choose to use certain ones over others unless they were forced to use one due to an environmental puzzle.
The boss fights are creative, enjoyable to fight and very well designed, much like most Kirby games the final boss is the absolute highlight and best part of the game. The mini-bosses you fight throughout the various stages get a bit repetitive and are reused too much IMO.
The music is absolutely phenomenal, very diverse and every track fits each of the locations perfectly. From the whimsical adventurous themes to the more ambient and mystical themes and even bombastic, you'll hear it all in this OST and it's right up there with some of the best Kirby music.
One last thing I have to mention is the difficulty is just nonexistent. This game is the anti-Dark Souls. When people say 'games should just be fun' they're talking about games like this because in my entire playthrough I didn't die a single time or feel even remotely challenged (I was playing on 'Wild Mode' the hardest difficult too) and honestly maybe I've just become too much of a masochist in the past few years, but challenge and difficulty have become a big part of my enjoyment in games and playing this right after two excruciatingly hard games like Elden Ring and Stranger of Paradise just made it obvious how much easier this game was to me.
All in all Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a very safe and typical platformer, but that's not a bad thing honestly. It's a tried and true formula that works for a reason and the fact the game feels so familiar completely made me forget this is Kirby's first foray into pure 3D because it's such a natural transition, you'd think Kirby had been a 3D title for years.
Despite being such a safe game The Forgotten Land is packed with beautiful levels, fun puzzles, simple, but addictive combat, creative bosses and incredible music and while I would've liked more variety in Copy Abilities with more in-depth movesets and better balancing, less reused mini-bosses and some actual challenging gameplay once in while even if you've been a casual Kirby fan in the past like me or enjoy other Nintendo platformers like Mario Odyssey this is still worth a play.
2 Comments
Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed and agree with my review!
ThatOneKilla68
2 years ago