In Kirby’s first 3D adventure, perfect platforming and vibrant levels take the pink blob to new heights.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a joyful family platformer for those who like gawking at cute, cuddly characters. It’s the children’s ball pit of Nintendo games, with every sharp corner padded over and every surface painted the colors of the rainbow. But that adorability is matched by its ambition. This is the boldest Kirby game yet, pushing the pink puffball into all manner of new dimensions and contorted shapes. For the most part, it works fabulously. Kirby’s come to us, here in the real world, for his latest outing – an interdimensional vortex has hoovered up the residents of Planet Popstar and spat them out on an abandoned version of Earth. That leaves you to saunter across the vibrant remains of human civilization to collect Kirby’s missing Waddle Dee chums, while squaring off against the villainous Beast Pack who claim ownership of the planet. Most of that involves doing what Kirby does best – inhaling enemies to absorb their abilities, jumping and gliding through tight platforming segments, and tackling big bosses at the end of each stage. Collectibles are strewn across every level, and hidden challenges keep you returning for more. But this is no ordinary Kirby adventure, Forgotten Land is the first fully 3D Kirby game and developer HAL Laboratory isn’t afraid to remind you of that. Whether you’re circling the perimeter of a building or rocketing along a rollercoaster, the team’s done a fantastic job of using the extra dimension to full effect. In many cases, entire levels are driven by novel mechanics that simply wouldn’t play as effectively in a 2D platformer. On one, you’re blown along the precarious rooftops of a Manhattan-esque skyline. In another, you must navigate a series of floating platforms spiraling across a tropical bay – jumping between safe spots that are moving on a curved path adds a new challenge to this platformer. Each level feels varied without ever drifting too far from Forgotten Land’s core gameplay loop. You’re frequently encouraged to switch abilities, rather than stick to a firm favorite power all the way through a level. This is all done through subtle nods, such as needing to use specific power-ups to access secret rooms and collectibles. While Forgotten Land isn’t too experimental, its simple but refined combat, alongside point-perfect platforming, goes a long way to sustain it. There are no cheap deaths or finicky level segments. And HAL Laboratory has done a great job of taking the core of Kirby and tweaking it just enough in each level to keep everything alive and pumping. It helps that each level is concise. You could rocket through most of them in a handful of minutes if you weren’t on the lookout for hidden extras or collectible Figurines. Though, that’s not in the spirit of the game – much like the pink puffball, you should fill yourself to bursting on each stage. Every level is accompanied by a handful of optional Missions that can be completed to earn extra Waddle Dees, used to progress through the main story.
