Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch)
Apr. 29th, 2022 07:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroKirby and all of the residents of Planet Popstar (mostly Waddle Dees, really) got sucked into a strange rift in space and deposited in a strange new land. Fortunately, Kirby is really good at adapting to new situations, so long as those situations involve eating things and beating up giant monsters.
ARR got an eShop gift certificate for his birthday, and as he knew this was coming, he saved it and we got the first-day digital download and started playing it right away. (It dropped right at the beginning of his spring break, and the portability of the Switch meant that we could play together in tabletop mode while visiting grandparents.)
The 3D view is much more tolerable than most 3D action games because of the low difficulty level (there’s an easy and a hard mode; the hard mode just reduces your health in exchange for making it easier to get all the collectables faster; we played on easy) and the locked camera. Kirby’s ability to float makes the weird draw distance for some of the platforming tolerable, and you can just accept you’re going to crash into enemies sometimes.
The major new gimmicks include: Mouthful mode, where Kirby stretches over a large object and bounces around in that shape, like a car or a vending machine. Upgrading special abilities, which require doing the “treasure world” minigame challenges. Collecting all the Waddle Dees in each area (which often requires completing non-intuitive hidden challenges, though the game does reveal them to you if you do them partially or as you complete other ones in the same stage). A post-game extra mode where you replay condensed versions of each area and collect “soul pieces” instead of Waddle Dees. And ARR loved every one of these, though I think the upgrading mechanic was his favorite. The boy has inherited my love of making numbers go up.
I'm reasonably certain the co-op mode was an afterthought. Bandana Waddle Dee is locked into a single weapon, can’t participate in Mouthful mode, gets ignored by boss AI and teleports to Kirby constantly. It's fine, it's playable, but the second player isn't adding anything (well, except damage to bosses) and isn’t getting much of an experience. That said, I'm very happy it's there because that means I can play with my son. We've reached the point where he can play the main character and only occasionally needs to hand me that controller. I did barely any of the treasure roads and there were a couple of stages I don’t think I actually saw because he conquered them without me.
Overall: This is a solid Kirby game, and if we weren’t getting Star Allies 2, I’m happy to have this instead. ARR adored it and we got some solid playtime together, with him logging twice the hours I did.
ARR got an eShop gift certificate for his birthday, and as he knew this was coming, he saved it and we got the first-day digital download and started playing it right away. (It dropped right at the beginning of his spring break, and the portability of the Switch meant that we could play together in tabletop mode while visiting grandparents.)
The 3D view is much more tolerable than most 3D action games because of the low difficulty level (there’s an easy and a hard mode; the hard mode just reduces your health in exchange for making it easier to get all the collectables faster; we played on easy) and the locked camera. Kirby’s ability to float makes the weird draw distance for some of the platforming tolerable, and you can just accept you’re going to crash into enemies sometimes.
The major new gimmicks include: Mouthful mode, where Kirby stretches over a large object and bounces around in that shape, like a car or a vending machine. Upgrading special abilities, which require doing the “treasure world” minigame challenges. Collecting all the Waddle Dees in each area (which often requires completing non-intuitive hidden challenges, though the game does reveal them to you if you do them partially or as you complete other ones in the same stage). A post-game extra mode where you replay condensed versions of each area and collect “soul pieces” instead of Waddle Dees. And ARR loved every one of these, though I think the upgrading mechanic was his favorite. The boy has inherited my love of making numbers go up.
I'm reasonably certain the co-op mode was an afterthought. Bandana Waddle Dee is locked into a single weapon, can’t participate in Mouthful mode, gets ignored by boss AI and teleports to Kirby constantly. It's fine, it's playable, but the second player isn't adding anything (well, except damage to bosses) and isn’t getting much of an experience. That said, I'm very happy it's there because that means I can play with my son. We've reached the point where he can play the main character and only occasionally needs to hand me that controller. I did barely any of the treasure roads and there were a couple of stages I don’t think I actually saw because he conquered them without me.
Overall: This is a solid Kirby game, and if we weren’t getting Star Allies 2, I’m happy to have this instead. ARR adored it and we got some solid playtime together, with him logging twice the hours I did.
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Date: 2022-04-30 09:45 pm (UTC)