I left this game feeling pretty underwhelmed, even as someone who expects that sorta thing from Kirby games. The franchise really hasn't evolved once ever since they discovered a winning formula with Super Star (26 years ago), and I was hoping that the pink puffball finally making his long delayed jump to 3D would be the push HAL needed to finally give Kirby the shot in the arm he needed. Instead, the Forgotten Land is still a good game, but it can't escape a strong feeling of missed potential permeating the entire experience.
Unlike Mario 3D World, which constantly one-ups itself with creative new ideas every single level so things don't get boring, Kirby more or less throws everything it has at you in the first world or so and then just kinda coasts for the rest of its playtime. None of the levels, enemies or bosses are memorable at all, the music is a complete nothingburger (except Roar of Dedede, now that's how you do a boss remix), and the interesting post-apocalyptic setting quickly devolves into the generic "beach world, snow world, lava world" archetypes that befall so many Nintendo platformers. There isn't even a cute little story like there is with some other Kirby games, hell I'd even accept the classic "bad guys steal Kirby's lunch" plot over the literally nothing we got here. In the end Forgotten Land has nothing to say, and ultimately just feels like HAL looking at what Mario's been doing for the last decade and trying to copy it without understanding what makes those games great. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good game and you'll probably have fun with it, but there really is no reason to play it when Mario 3D World is right there.
Unlike Mario 3D World, which constantly one-ups itself with creative new ideas every single level so things don't get boring, Kirby more or less throws everything it has at you in the first world or so and then just kinda coasts for the rest of its playtime. None of the levels, enemies or bosses are memorable at all, the music is a complete nothingburger (except Roar of Dedede, now that's how you do a boss remix), and the interesting post-apocalyptic setting quickly devolves into the generic "beach world, snow world, lava world" archetypes that befall so many Nintendo platformers. There isn't even a cute little story like there is with some other Kirby games, hell I'd even accept the classic "bad guys steal Kirby's lunch" plot over the literally nothing we got here. In the end Forgotten Land has nothing to say, and ultimately just feels like HAL looking at what Mario's been doing for the last decade and trying to copy it without understanding what makes those games great. Don't get me wrong, it's still a good game and you'll probably have fun with it, but there really is no reason to play it when Mario 3D World is right there.