Has anyone else been playing Kirby and the Forgotten Land?
It's been pretty good so far, although it's much different than what I expected. Based on the "car powerup" promos as well as some pre-release articles touting it as an open-world game, I was preparing myself for some large Mario Odyssey-esque environments (if not larger), with the car serving as your primary means of transportation from one major area to the next.
Boy, was I wrong. Instead, it's essentially Super Mario 3D World with a Kirby makeover. The camera and level design are
very 3D World-esque. You have little-to-no control over the camera itself, and the levels are, for the most part, incredibly linear/straight-forward. Much like 3D World, it isn't 2.5D but it definitely doesn't have "fully explorable" 3D levels like those in Mario 64 or Odyssey, either. It feels very tightly controlled, and it's virtually impossible to "lose your way." Even the car sections are insanely linear, to the point of feeling on-rails despite the fact that they give you complete control. Instead of driving a car around an open area, you're really just going along a straight path until you inevitably reach a platform/obstacle that requires you to abandon the car to move ahead.
It may seem like I'm bashing the game, but I'm honestly not. I've just been surprised by how "not open" it really is. Some of those previews (like
this one) were dead wrong.
That being said, the gameplay itself is fun and easy to get into. There are lots of powers to absorb from enemies, and you can even upgrade them back at your "home town" which is really cool. Each level also has a whole bunch of optional objectives, most of which aren't even revealed until you've beaten the level, which is a great way to add replay value despite the designs being so linear. And outside of the levels themselves, there are bonus "challenge levels" on the world map that you can play. It definitely feels like there's enough side content to make it worth your while.
One complaint I do have is that the game is a cakewalk even on "Wild Mode" (which is supposed to be the most challenging of the two modes). Even the bosses have been a joke. None of them have put me in any sort of danger, and I've beaten most of them without taking more than a hit or two. I guess that's Kirby for you, though. On the flipside, perhaps it's nice to get a game like this every once in a while that you can just breeze through without a care in the world.
Another minor complaint is that although the graphics are pretty good, it runs at a sluggish 30 FPS. I really wish they could've achieved a smoother 60 FPS, not just for the sake of visuals but also to make it feel more responsive to control, but then again it isn't a fast-paced game nor is it very challenging, so at the end of the day it isn't a huge deal.
Overall I think it's well worth playing if you're a fan of Kirby or even Mario 3D World. It definitely isn't on the same level as Mario Odyssey, but then again... how many platformers
are? I wouldn't quite put it above Mario 3D World, either. It's still a cool game though, even if it ended up being way different than what I expected, and I'm definitely going to play the hell out of it.