VIDEO GAMES: Welcome to the New World: Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Jul. 2—As the long-running series' first true foray into the third dimension of play, "Kirby and the Forgotten Land" is an extremely enjoyable and charming adventure that more than sticks the landing but doesn't try too hard to break the mold.

Following the titular pink puffball protagonist, this game sees Kirby and his friends taken from their home in Dream Land through a wormhole to a mysterious other world and their subsequent clash with the hostile natives of the world, the Beast Pack.

The Forgotten Land itself is a treasure, sporting several wonderful environments that are completely alien to traditional Kirby games and bear an interesting resemblance to our own cities and civilizations, now reclaimed by nature.

Players can explore abandoned malls, a still-running amusement park cloaked in twilight or a city street blanketed in decades of snow, all in a 3D environment instead of the series' traditional sidescrolling 2.5D, and accompanied by a marvelous soundtrack that fits each and every area and will have you listening long after you've put the game down.

To help players out on this journey, Kirby is stocked with his classic Copy Abilities, powers that can be obtained by inhaling enemies and mimicking their skills for your own use. "Forgotten Land" further expands on this mechanic by introducing evolutions for every ability in the game, unlocking a higher level of power and charming new designs for familiar forms.

"Forgotten Land" also introduces a new mechanic in the form of Mouthful Mode. While Kirby can normally swallow just about anything he can fit in his mouth, this new power has Kirby's mouth fitting around objects he inhales — if that description sounds a bit unsettling, I don't blame you, but there's something weirdly charming about seeing it in action.

Each mode shifts Kirby's form to match that of the object he's inhaled and grants him new abilities, such as the Ring Mouth allowing him to expel blasts of air. Using these forms anytime they appear is loads of fun; every time I see Cone Mouth Kirby's little waddle I can't help but smile.

However, both Mouthful Mode and the evolved Copy Abilities pose a problem to the game that many returning players may be disappointed in. While the previous installment in the Kirby series, "Kirby Star Allies," boasted over 28 unique Copy Abilities, "Forgotten Land" has a measly 12, of which several staple abilities of Kirby's arsenal, like Beam and Stone, are missing.

To make matters worse, the two new abilities introduced in this game, Drill and Ranger, have frankly been done better in previous games. While it's no denying that the effort of including multiple evolutions for the existing ability set is likely why there's so few, it's still a bit disappointing to have so many key powers be left out.

I also personally can't help but notice the similarities between some of the Mouthful Modes and existing Copy Abilities, and suspecting that these powers may have been left out on purpose for the sake of hyping up this new mechanic.

Regarding the gameplay itself, "Forgotten Land" is by no means a difficult game and that's mostly a good thing. While "Star Allies" is probably the best modern game to start the series at, this game is certainly just as good a place to pick up the series.

The bosses of each area can present an alarming difficulty spike at times but even then the rest of the game is relatively easy. However, this can be an issue for experienced players wanting a bit more edge.

The real issue of the game in my opinion comes from the side missions packaged with each level, though this is less of a challenge and moreso tedious time wasting.

To progress through certain parts of the game, Kirby must find and rescue a certain number of Waddle Dees that have been captured by the Beast Pack and hidden throughout each level. In addition to these Waddle Dees, additional Waddle Dees are rescued by completing side missions associated with the level. These missions can be anything from beating a miniboss with a specific power to doing a certain task in the level itself.

However, the first time you start each level, the missions are hidden from you, requiring you to figure them out on your own. Generally, this encourages players to have fun with the environment and experiment but some missions can be incredibly obscure, making it difficult to find out through trial and error.

Any time you clear a level, missions that are still unknown will be unlocked but only one is unlocked at a time, meaning if you're truly stumped on the missions for a level, you may need to beat it multiple times to clear every mission. In addition, some missions can be failed or missed, requiring you to restart to get another chance at beating them.

Not every Waddle Dee needs to be saved to beat the game, but for players looking to 100% the game like I did, this level of tedium can be a bit of a dampener on the experience.

In addition to the main campaign of the game, players can find several side modes that offer their own fun in the Waddle Dee Town, a village built by the Waddle Dees you rescue.

These alternate modes are genuinely enjoyable to play and complete, from trying to become the strongest at the Coliseum, obtaining every collectible figurine, to trying to haul the biggest fish in the pond. Even after I'd decided to stop playing through the story, sometimes I found it hard to put down the game due to how much fun I was having with the other modes.

By far one of this game's greatest strengths, though, is its charm. Every inch of this game is so lovingly crafted and has so much attention to detail that there were few times I wasn't playing with a smile on my face.

As you rescue more Waddle Dees, your town continues to grow and become more lively. Exploring the various environments of the Forgotten Land reveals scenes of your Beast Pack rivals enjoying peaceful activities like a snack in the food court or a nap in the snowy streets.

Even something as simple as giving floaties to bombs thrown in the water by Bomb Kirby shows just how much love and care went into this game.

I've always been a bit terrible at finishing games in a timely manner but I enjoyed this game enough that I played it about every chance I got from the moment I got it, fully completing it in less than two weeks. While it's definitely become my favorite installment in the series, some of the decisions made in regards to it still rub me the wrong way.

There's no denying that this game isn't as ambitious as it could have been, but honestly, I think that's the point. Part of me suspects this game was "testing the waters" for developer HAL Laboratories; with the jump to 3D platforming for a traditionally 2.5D game series, I'm sure they were wary to be too ambitious for fear of scaring away longtime fans. After seeing how this one fared, I'd be willing to bet the developers are already working on a much more fleshed out title to follow this game up.

That being said, I still think it's one of the best games I've played this year and I highly recommend giving it a try, even if you're just starting out with the series. These games have always been fun, charming and adorable adventures that can warm the heart of any player and I firmly believe this game is no exception.

It may not be trying too hard to be outside the box, but as the saying goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Davis Cobb is a reporter with The Tifton Gazette.