Replaying the first Dream Land game got me in the mood to replay the sequel as well. And gosh darnit, it's actually quite a bit better than I remember. You actually get more than 5 stages this time! Like, a lot more. Already that's a big plus one over the original, which was a decent game but was severely held back by its lack of content. Dream Land 2 is still a short game, but it's about on par with what you would expect from a Game Boy platformer.
The copy ability which was absent in the first game is now here to stay, which is nice and all, but it's not as cool as the animal buddies that were introduced here. These are the reason the game is sometimes a real blast. If you can hold onto Rick (the hamster) or Coo (the owl), you will be golden. Kine is a nice fish, but he's only really useful underwater. Once you're out of water, get rid of him, because he will most certainly get you killed.
Initially, I was dead set on giving this game a 7. I was enjoying my time with it quite a bit. Nice, simple fun. But that changed once I got to Level 5. Some of the stages here and in the next 2 levels have some really annoying level design that is sure to screw you over not once, or even twice, but possibly multiple times. I distinctly remember 5-2 and 5-5 having a horrible auto-scrolling portion that ate through my lives. But not all of the stages in the latter half are terrible, and most have some merit to them. There are just more difficult sections sprinkled throughout them. If it wasn't for this erratic tedium I encountered, the game would have been even better. But as it stands, it's definitely an improvement over DL1, and certainly better than any of the Mario Land games on Gameboy.
By the way, while not exactly a trend, I hate how this game initiated the concept of locking the true final boss behind 100% collectibles for Kirby games. Like, can you not? Thankfully, there's only 7 thinga-majigs here. Gee, I sure hope Dream Land 3 doesn't have as many, either... oh...
The copy ability which was absent in the first game is now here to stay, which is nice and all, but it's not as cool as the animal buddies that were introduced here. These are the reason the game is sometimes a real blast. If you can hold onto Rick (the hamster) or Coo (the owl), you will be golden. Kine is a nice fish, but he's only really useful underwater. Once you're out of water, get rid of him, because he will most certainly get you killed.
Initially, I was dead set on giving this game a 7. I was enjoying my time with it quite a bit. Nice, simple fun. But that changed once I got to Level 5. Some of the stages here and in the next 2 levels have some really annoying level design that is sure to screw you over not once, or even twice, but possibly multiple times. I distinctly remember 5-2 and 5-5 having a horrible auto-scrolling portion that ate through my lives. But not all of the stages in the latter half are terrible, and most have some merit to them. There are just more difficult sections sprinkled throughout them. If it wasn't for this erratic tedium I encountered, the game would have been even better. But as it stands, it's definitely an improvement over DL1, and certainly better than any of the Mario Land games on Gameboy.
By the way, while not exactly a trend, I hate how this game initiated the concept of locking the true final boss behind 100% collectibles for Kirby games. Like, can you not? Thankfully, there's only 7 thinga-majigs here. Gee, I sure hope Dream Land 3 doesn't have as many, either... oh...