Review Bites: Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Welcome to Review Bites! A series of bite sized reviews where I talk about a game and my own recommendations. Today I want to tackle the first full 3d Kirby game, Kirby and the Forgotten Land!

Appetizer: Historical and Personal Context

The Kirby series debuted all the way back in 1992 with the Gameboy title: Kirby's Dreamland. This little Gameboy classic went on to spawn an entire series of adorable adventures with the pink puffball. Kirby has been a consistent success throughout all of his life. However, whenever the first 3d consoles were coming out, Kirby never made the jump to 3d in anything other than aesthetic. Outside of the small tech-demo like game, Kirby's Blowout Blast, Kirby was always a 2d platformer series. That is, until Kirby and the Forgotten Land. 

My own history with Kirby is vast. I have played Kirby games for what seems to be my entire life. My first game was Kirby Superstar Ultra on the Nintendo DS. It is still to this day my favorite Kirby game as well as one of my favorite games of all time. From there I've played and loved every mainline entry since. I have a ton of memories playing Kirby's Epic Yarn and Kirby's Return to Dreamland on the Wii with my friends and family. Kirby games consistently rank among my favorites on whatever console they are on. I'm a big fan of this series.

With the appetizer served, lets go on to the main course.  

Main Course: Review

Forgotten Land is a blast all the way through. The game begins with Kirby and the Waddle Dees getting sucked into another dimension. Kirby then finds that the Waddle Dees are getting captured by the beast clan. You are tasked with finding out what is going on and rescuing your friends. It's a simple premise and it definitely motivated me to save as many Waddle Dees as possible because they are just so adorable!!!

Adorable is one of the many words you could use to describe how this game looks. The graphics are absolutely phenomenal with lush environments and detailed background that really make the world feel alive. This new world Kirby explores is vibrant with many different environments to comb over for secrets. I was constantly amazed with how pretty and unique some of these environments look. Abandoned malls, factories, castles, and so much more. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a visual treat from start to finish.

Another thing that impressed me was the level design. Kirby is a franchise that prides itself on being for everyone. If you want a simple and easy game to breeze through then you totally can and still see and play some really fun sequences. However, the levels are primarily designed to encourage exploration. Each level has a hidden list of tasks that you have to explore the level to find. Each task frees more Waddle Dees and unlocks more things to do in Waddle Dee Town. These stages are incredible and I loved exploring them and finding hidden tasks to do. I loved finding cute little hidden areas and discovering I got a Waddle Dee for it. Kirby games are some of the only games I attempt to 100% because of how fun completing them is and Forgotten Land is no exception.

Speaking of Waddle Dee Town, talk about an adorable hub area! I love the Waddle Dees and being able to help build and expand their town is a delight. The more Waddle Dees you save the bigger your town gets and the more facilities you unlock. These range from upgrading copy abilities to minigames you can try. Most of the facilities are a really nice addition to the town and as you save more Waddle Dees the town becomes more populated and alive. However, the most important part of the town is that you can wave at the Waddle Dees and THEY WAVE BACK! IT"S SO CUUUUUUTE!!!! 

The only criticism I have is one frustrating minigame, Kirby Tilt and Roll. I'm not a fan of how it controls since it is a motion control minigame and the ball feels really heavy for some reason. Unless you're going for 100% completion I wouldn't recommend spending much time on it. 

One of the things about this game that impressed me the most was the copy abilities. Most of Kirby's abilities were designed with 2d in mind so the transfer to 3d had to have taken a lot of time and care. I can say with confidence that every copy ability they put in this game is excellent. Each one has been carefully adapted to work exceptionally in 3d. There are 12 abilities in the game, although 2 of them (sleep and crash) are one hit kills or health regeneration. The other 10 are combat focused and they will be the abilities you use throughout the game. Each one is super distinct and has unique effects across different stages. Ice can skate across water and magma, fire can light fuses, cutter and sword can cut ropes and so much more. I found most of these abilities super fun to use. (My personal favorite is Needle, you basically roll around and pick up objects on your spikes. You can just keep rolling, its really fun!)

This works well alongside a copy ability upgrade system. You can collect blueprints in certain levels to unlock the ability to upgrade your copy abilities. These upgrades give even more variety to the copy abilities that is much appreciated. It also lends to a sense of progression as you become stronger and tear through your foes. Additionally, if you don't like a particular upgrade you can revert abilities back to a previous form. This is perfect for self imposed challenges and customization. 

My appreciation for these abilities grew even stronger with Treasure Road. These are small timed challenges that have you use a specific ability to get to the end in a certain amount of time. These can be pretty tough, especially if you go for the extra target time. The target time demands that you become intimately familiar with how the abilities work and their nuances. This helped me immensely with gaining familiarity with the abilities and gave me a huge appreciation for how well they transitioned the abilities to 3d. My only gripe is that there are a couple levels that seem to demand near perfection to get the target time. These caused a bit of frustration, but never took me more than 10 tries so I wasn't too hung up about it. 

The last thing I want to mention is the new Mouthful Mode. This is a hilarious and extremely fun new gimmick for this game. The concept is you inhale a large object like a car or a traffic cone and gain some new abilities to explore with. You can boost around with a car, blast enemies with air with a ring, and become a giant water balloon. My personal favorite is the vending machine. It's so much fun wreaking havoc with rapid fire soda cans. I enjoy the mouthful mode, it gives this game a really fun and silly flavor that even most other Kirby games rarely match.  

Dessert: Conclusion

Overall, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a huge success for Kirby. It knocks almost every aspect out of the park for the series' first 3d outing. The level are beautiful and fun to explore, the copy abilities are expertly executed, and the Waddle Dees are the most adorable creatures in video games. Aside from a few challenge levels and one frustrating optional minigame, I loved every second. It's a must have if you own a Nintendo switch and it put a huge smile on my face on numerous occasions. 

There is also a fishing minigame, which of course means this is a 10/10 game.

Thank you for joining me for this Review Bite! If you'd like to get updates on blog post, follow my Instagram. What do you think of Kirby and the Forgotten Land? Are Waddle Dees truly the cutest? I love seeing other opinions on the media I love so leave a comment if you wish. Have a wonderful day!

Insta: @StageTaco