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Kirby and the Forgotten Land might rub some people the wrong way as not enough may have changed for some to truly enjoy this new adventure. The aggregate scores on Metacritic may be high but there are always two sides to every story, especially regarding Nintendo games. Let’s weigh in on what Kirby and the Forgotten Land does right and wrong this time around.
8 Loved: Mouthful Mode
There is one thing that captured the hearts of fans from the first trailer of Kirby and the Forgotten Land: when Kirby eats that car and turns into one, in turn, it seemed like magic. Memes upon memes flooded the internet. Now that the title is out, the memes are even better since players can manipulate the game more.
There are so many hilarious one-off and repeated Mouthful Mode powers in Kirby and the Forgotten Land. There is the aforementioned car along with traffic cones, staircases, gliders, and so much more. To list them all out now would be a spoiler as discovering powers is half of the fun in this series.
7 Didn’t Love: Not Fully Open-World
There is another aspect of the first trailer that had fans intrigued as Kirby and the Forgotten Land seemed like it might finally allow player to explore an open-world environment. The previous entries were all linear and this series had also never gone full 3D before.
While the Forgotten Land’s stages are more open and 3D than ever before, the game as a whole is still a linear adventure. Players will find stages on a world map, complete them in order, and then move on to a boss stage to unlock a new world. It is a classic design, but after three decades, some fans might have been ready to jump into something bigger in the series.
6 Loved: Kirby’s Copy Abilities
The Mouthful Mode may be the most hilarious thing in the game, however, as funny as these abilities are, they don’t compare to the raw power of copy abilities. Kirby and the Forgotten Land includes new abilities such as the Ranger.
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Kirby gets to use a gun when in this form. It’s not a real-looking machine gun or anything like that, instead looking like a cartoon blunderbuss. In other words, it fits in with Nintendo’s family-friendly brand. Besides the new and old abilities, players can also upgrade their copy powers. That has been done in the past but not to the degree seen in Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
5 Didn’t Love: Waddle Dee Only Co-Op
Getting to play a game, Nintendo or otherwise, in co-op is always a treat. Co-op has been a part of this series for a while now. Unfortunately, the co-op, while good, is limited in Kirby and the Forgotten Land. The second player gets to control a Waddle Dee and that is it. Other entries allowed more fluid options like being able to control an enemy monster like the Blade Knight.
The multiplayer supports local couch co-op only, which is tough in current times when friends and family rely on the internet to both play and communicate. Players cannot create AI buddies either which is a problem all its own.
4 Loved: Treasure Roads
Players will have to progress through the game linearly, stage by stage. However, there are bonus stages they can complete called Treasure Roads. These mini-challenges set Kirby up with one power. Players need to master copy abilities and get through these Treasure Road stages as fast as possible. The better they do, the better the rewards will be.
Completing these stages for the first time will always net players with a Rare Stone. This is how copy abilities can be upgraded. They are short stages but fun to go through multiple times which shows the creativity of the team behind this game.
3 Didn’t Love: The Soundless Movies
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a good-looking game. It is not the most visually impressive game on the Switch but the cute, colorful graphics are fun to look at. There is one thing about the production that is weird though: the cutscenes do not have sound effects in them.
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They make them stick out. It’s like someone at Nintendo forgot to add in the file labeled “sound effects” before shipping the game out. It doesn’t ruin the game by any means since there aren’t a lot of cutscenes in the game in the first place. It does make these movies weird though. Imagine watching the anime based on Kirby without sound effects.
2 Loved: Waddle Dee Town
Kirby and the Forgotten Land adds in a hub area called Waddle Dee Town. The story’s goal is to recuse Waddle Dees from a bunch of weird-looking birds that capture them in cages. Rescuing them will allow players to unlock boss stages. They also unlock new aspects in the hub area like the aforementioned way to upgrade copy abilities.
There is also a cafe in Waddle Dee Town that allows players to buy food items as well as mini-games. There is a way to watch movies and the list goes on. Giving players something to constantly go back to in-between stages was a good idea.
1 Didn’t Love: The Frame Rate
There is another aspect of the production that is lacking like the odd soundless movies. Enemies in the distance will have poor frame rates as if they are in a stop-motion cartoon. It looks quite jarring and this is not something that happens from time to time. It is constant. Anytime an enemy is in the distance, they will look like they are marching toys.
If this game was about toys coming to life, slowed-down frame rates would be applauded. That’s not the point of Kirby and the Forgotten Land though. The frame rate otherwise is decent. It only dips when things are off in the distance so hopefully this problem can be fixed in a patch.
Kirby and the Forgotten Landwas released on March 25, 2022 and is available on Switch.
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