A Return to Form
Kirby has been around a lot recently, but he hasn’t really had a proper sequel on the Wii, with Kirby’s Epic Yarn and other spinoffs coming first. That changes with Kirby’s Return to Dream Land. Kirby has his copy ability back and brings three other friends to join him this time around. But does this new Kirby keep to the standard set by the previous Dream Land games?
First thing’s first: This is almost the exact same Kirby as before, so if you’ve played any of Kirby’s non-spinoff games, you know exactly what you’re getting. Whether you like it or not, it’s just more of that same experience. So let’s talk about what has changed. In this particular instance, Kirby and his friends see a spaceship crash and run to help. The pilot is in distress, and needs all the pieces of his ship back to get back to his home planet, and they happily oblige. While it is an admittedly simple opening, the story grows a bit later on, with there actually being a significant climax and a couple of rather amusing twists. It’s a simple story, but not a flimsy one.
The biggest change in this Kirby game from the N64′s Crystal Shards is now Kirby can copy only one ability at a time, instead of being able to copy and combine, a loss which I felt was detrimental at first, but made up for by a greatly increased number of abilities available to you. Abilities like Mike, Fighter, Sword and Water have been incredibly improved to make using each one not only vastly different, but truly unique and entertaining.
Kirby's abilities really ramp up the fun.
Easy Doesn’t Matter
Each stage feels unique and features a genuinely entertaining hook to it, like something you’d find in Braid or another indie puzzler. Some shining moments are the parts where you are given a super-ability such as Monster Flame or the Ultra Sword. It is fanatical fun to walk around sending fire dragons after people, bowling over enemies (and actual bowling pins) and using the randomly changing Ultra Sword. To see Kirby get pissed and drop a giant meat cleaver on someone is like seeing your cat destroy a city block. The levels of cute do not dissuade going on murderous rampages. There are also some rather tricky sections that require you to bounce on a shoe, run with a cannon, and others giving you a shield-like Tuba to run with.
It isn’t always perfect, however. Some levels will just assume you have a specific ability, though the tendency of the player is often to keep their favorite. This usually results missed energy shard collectables, because you didn’t have the right ability you were supposed to have, and the game didn’t tell you you were supposed to have it.
There are some who typecast this game as “too easy”, and while I don’t fully disagree, I will say this: The game is easy; you probably won’t die often, but it is a lot of fun. You will smile, you will laugh and you almost certainly will have a great time playing. It’s just pure fun. Not mindless, but cute and entertaining no matter how old or jaded you are. Kirby is a badass, and while playing with him doesn’t make you feel like a badass, the game makes you understand that Kirby is. He’s the Shaft of video games.
All in all, Return to Dream Land is like the show Adventure Time. It may show up in a “kid-friendly” form, but when you really start to get into it, you’ll have a lot of fun. It’s cute, it’s cartoonishly violent, and even though it may look like it’s not for you, give it a shot – it will definitely not disappoint you.
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