Kirby’s Return to Dream Land
Year: 2011
Rating: E10+
Time Played: ~6.50 hours
While I’m all for franchises trying out new things, there’s something about returning to the core mechanic that makes a great game. Kirby’s Return to Dream Land took the fundamentals of a Kirby game and amped up the cool factor while still maintaining that classic Kirby feel. Granted, as Nintendo delved further into gimmicks on their consoles, their franchises had to adapt as well. Return to Dream Land is no exception, but at least the base game is the standard Kirby formula.
Admittedly, one of the more “fun” aspects of this game is the super-powered abilities Kirby can use. While they do often require shaking the Wiimote to use, their increased power put a smile on my face. As far as couch co-op goes, this game is better than most. My daughter played a lot of this game with me as Meta Knight, and there wasn’t much of an issue where she needed to move along with me to advance in the level. That there could be up to four players at once is a nice evolution to the 2-player mechanic introduced back in the Super Nintendo era.
The thing that struck me with this game and felt a little off was some of the difficulty spikes. Granted, I can see how a series like Kirby—which isn’t necessarily known for being geared toward “gamers”—should provide some challenge for those who grew up with these games. Still, the amount of bosses and secret levels that I felt I barely survived seemed to be higher than most Kirby games. That I even had to go ahead and beat the game’s final boss without my daughter’s help just so I could lock in and focus shows that the “defeating god” meme for this franchise is in full effect here.
A classic Kirby formula that might be just a tad too hard, I give Kirby’s Return to Dream Land 4.0 stars out of 5.
