Nintendo’s latest remaster brings back a 12-year-old Wii game, but how does it compare to last year’s Kirby And The Forgotten Land?
As speculation continues as to when Nintendo might announce its new console, one of the prevailing theories is that they’ll unveil it next year and will coast their way to its release with a range of remasters, smaller titles, and DLC for existing games. There’s little evidence for that, or indeed anything else, but if Kirby’s Return To Dream Land Deluxe is a sign of things to come we can only hope the announcement comes as soon as possible.
The recent re-release of Metroid Prime was magnificent but Nintendo is relatively limited in what it can remaster since only games from the GameCube, Wii, and Wii U can be repurposed with relatively little effort. Something like Zelda: Ocarina Of Time would need a full remake, so while less universally loved the likes of The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess can be given a quick polish and released largely as is – especially as they were already remastered for the Wii U.
As much as it seems like scraping the barrel, the advantage for Kirby’s Return To Dream Land is that the graphics are very cartoonish and so it’s less obvious that they’re actually quite low tech. It works too, as visually there’s nothing wrong with this remaster other than a rather bland art style. In terms of gameplay though it’s clear evidence for why last year’s Kirby And The Forgotten Land was such a necessary change in direction for the franchise.
Originally released in 2011, Kirby’s Return To Dream Land was, surprisingly, the first traditional 2D platformer on a home console since Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards in 2000. Before that, most of the games had been portable titles, indeed the series originated on portables, with the very first entry being part of the first wave of Game Boy titles recently added to Nintendo Switch Online.
Most of the early games made some mention of Dream Land in their title, with the franchise’s irrelevance in Europe illustrated by the fact that this was originally known merely as Kirby’s Adventure Wii in the UK. The series is inexplicably popular in America and Japan, where they seem to have more of a stomach for the ultra low difficulty and random set pieces.
Storytelling is almost non-existent in the Kirby games and, to our knowledge, it’s never been made clear what exactly Kirby is, except that he’s grossly overpowered compared to all the enemies he fights. Apart from being able to float indefinitely his most famous ability is that he can inhale other creatures and steal their powers or spit them out as projectiles.
Swallowed abilities include everything from wielding a sword to throwing giant snowballs and each usually has two or three different moves associated with it. That’s very impressive from a design perspective, especially the special enemies/weapons that see you destroying half the screen with a single attack, but the problem is there are never any opponents anywhere near as powerful, with which to challenge yourself.
There is a hard mode (which calibrates to normal by usual standards) but frustratingly it’s only available after you beat the game. Instead, the remaster’s more interested in making things even easier, with the option to turn off death by falling and gain double stamina.
Even the platforming is so easy it barely counts as an obstacle and that’s before you get into the main gimmick of Return To Dream Land, in that you’re meant to play it with up to four people in local co-op. At that point you really begin to pity the poor enemies, even if having three other people running around is more of a distracting hindrance than actively helpful.
Kirby games have always been aimed primarily at young children but it’s not as if Mario and Yoshi are Elden Ring by comparison. What really frustrates though is the mix of highly imaginative weapons – for which there is no use – and the pitifully unimaginative level design, which cycles through all the grassy/desert/snow/volcano cliches possible without a hint of self-awareness.
Not only are the levels uninteresting in terms of design and theme but they’re also terribly paced, switching between horizontal and vertical sections, or brief mini-games, like a bored child flicking through TV channels. There’s absolutely no flow to anything, with stages stopping and starting at random – which is one problem The Forgotten Land never fixed.
If you played that game and liked it then we’d caution jumping in with this as while the core gameplay is still similar, even with the change in perspective, it’s all presented in such a banal and unengaging manner the most dangerous enemy here is boredom, not boss characters.
Despite all that this is a very good remaster, that’s been made with a great deal of care and adds a range of new extras, including new sand and mecha abilities, new sub-games, and a lengthy new epilogue where you play as Kirby’s ally Magolor as he slowly regains his powers. This is by far the most interesting part of the game, where we actually died quite a few times, but again it can’t be accessed until after the main campaign.
Magolor’s epilogue adds a sense of danger and uncertainty that is completely missing from the main campaign, in what we can only assume is a knowing response to existing criticisms of the franchise. Presumably The Forgotten Land will end up as the new template for future Kirby games but if there’s one useful thing to come from this remaster it’s the proof that forging ahead with new ideas is much better than dwelling on the past.
Kirby’s Return To Dream Land Deluxe review summary
In Short: An underserved remaster to an unremarkable 2D platformer, that was the primary reason why the soft reboot of Kirby And The Forgotten was necessary in the first place.
Pros: The various power-ups are all very clever and visually interesting, especially the super-powered ones. A lot of new content, including a surprisingly good epilogue without Kirby.
Cons: An absolutely bog standard 2D Kirby game that has zero new ideas and offers no challenge. Bland visuals and level design, with the series’ typically poor pacing and random set pieces.
Score: 5/10
Formats: Nintendo Switch
Price: £49.99
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Release Date: 24th February 2023
Age Rating: 7
Email [email protected], leave a comment below, and follow us on Twitter.
Follow Metro Gaming on Twitter and email us at [email protected]
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
Source: Read Full Article
