So, its been a long three months since
my last Switch game review. (I played Pokemon Moon and Civ III instead....) But will the same hold true this time as I plop down nearly 50 dollars to play Kirby and the Forgotten Land (and another 40 for Xenoblade Chronicles definitive edition?) So lets get down and find out as I discuss Kirby's biggest, boldest, most ambitious adventure yet, the Mario Odyssey of Kirby, the Breath of the Wild of Kirby, how can it possibly live up to the hyiiiipe?
So, for those who don't know, what this game is, its a 3D Kirby game with Crash Bandicoot/SM3DL-styled linear levels, all with fun secrets to find and great visuals to enjoy. And I do mean great. Obviously there are limits to what the Switch can put out, and, if lots of items are on screen at once the Switch struggles mightily to display them, but artistic direction is king here and HAL knows how to make the worlds sing. The Kirby series is one which typically relies on replayability rather than challenge and, true to form, the base levels of the game lack challenge, with even their "secrets" being easy to find on play-through two.
Charm, in a word, is the game's main selling point. The amount of love and care put into Kirby's movements, his powers, his enemies, the worlds you run through, etc. Its all breath-taking. And then there are the collectibles, the mini-games, the hub-world. The music test band that "realistically" (they're Waddle-Dees) plays their instruments to the beat of the songs you choose. This is truly a game that wants to be bigger than its ever been before, and has set out to do 3D right.
And as to downsides? Well, the difficulty curve, or lack of one, is a big one. In the base game it remains very easy from start to finish, with only certain bosses being barriers to completion. That includes the not-so-secret secrets, which are almost all easily found. And then, after you beat the regular final boss and get the credits you get an extra world. While the levels remain easy to beat the bosses become obnoxious. And since you need to play through ten minutes of level to get to those bosses... yeah fuck it I just wrapped up my play-through instead. And I think the game also could have done with just a touch more of the regular "grassy ruins" styled levels. An extra world of those, bumping it up to 8 worlds, would have been an adequate length. As is, it feels just a little too short.
And yet, I do love what we got. I loved the concept of Kirby exploring an abandoned near-earth environment. I love the fact that the game's developers doubled down on the concept of the Forgotten World and made it stick through the entire game. And that epic ending... oh wow, this Kirby game has an intelligently told story. Its a love-letter to everything Kirby and I can't wait to see what they have to offer next.
So yeah, then, I'm a little torn on what to rate this game. Obviously I liked it, even though I am pretty sure I didn't hit my dollar per hour. So the problem is, there's actually a way my review scores work. I don't just do 0, 1 or 2 out of 2 just to shit on the concept of scores, there is a method to the madness. 2 out of 2 means I would recommend it to any fan of the genre, 1 out of 2 means its a competent game fit for those interested and 0 means its bad. 3 out of 2 also exists as a theoretical rating for games that I could recommend to literally anyone (BotW, maybe Odyssey.) It has not yet been used in any of my reviews. So, under that set of circumstances, despite me liking the game, it really only deserves a 1 since the platforming is weak and the "easiness/frustration" issues might leave people feeling cold. But I'm not doing that, I am giving
Kirby and the Forgotten Land a 2 out of 2 due to succeeding in its ambitions, making a 3D platformer that left me consistently smiling with a very clear line for when its time to get off the ride and avoid the bullshit.
Wait around a month or two for my thoughts on Xenoblade!
