3/5 ★ – FoofDeckman's review of Kirby and the Forgotten Land.

[Spoiler Free] This game managed to hold the record for one of my largest opinion shifts I've had playing a video game in recent memory. I was completely ready to abandon this game and label it as mediocre, but something changed to where I stuck through it. I'm glad I managed to stick with it too because Kirby and the Forgotten Land ended up being one of the best Nintendo games I've played in a long while. Its cute aesthetic mixed with a post-apocalyptic city made the Forgotten Land itself feel unique for a 3D platformer. This game had it's fair share of issues, some of which plagued my first impression enough for me to almost completely give up on it. Its terrible Co-op system, the tensionless difficulty even a toddler can run through and frame rates reaching record numbers of 20 frames a second made this game difficult to enjoy at times, but still left for an overall decent experience regardless. The levels cover a plethora of areas loosely mimicking real world architecture. Cityscapes, overgrown malls and abandoned buildings are just a tiny slice of what's to find in The Forgotten Lands. When I first heard "Post-Apocalyptic Kirby Game" I thought It was a joke, never in a million years would I have imagined that concept to mesh, but somehow the art department and level designers nailed it. All of which accompanied by a fantastic soundtrack that blasts throughout the entire campaign. Kirby games have a known reputation of creepy bosses and bizarre concepts, but I was not expecting to make a mental connection between Resident Evil while playing through a KIRBY game. The levels are wacky yet structured in ways that feel natural, which is the best pairing a 3D platformer should have. I'm not one to usually complain about difficulty in games, especially when it comes to games targeted towards children, but as someone that considers themselves not great at video games, I found this way too easy. Throughout most of the areas in this game you can pretty much just walk to the end without much hassle. I know the supposed reason behind this is based around the developers not wanting to see Kirby get hurt, but this feels like too big of a stretch and leads to every enemy encounter feeling like a cakewalk with no tension. The main reason I stayed with this game was because of the fun powerups you're able to get as the game continues, but progression never made the difficulty any higher. I understand Nintendo wants to make this game accessible to everyone, but if I'm playing this game on the highest difficulty I expect something more than what I ended up getting. I never felt rewarded or engaged beyond a surface level when coming across enemies or bosses and if this game continued any longer than It did I most likely wouldn't have finished it. The cooperative functionality present in the game doesn't work very well. As someone that was eager to play this with someone else, as previous Kirby games I always loved playing co-op, I found myself extremely disappointed with how limited the implementation is. When the second player were to go slightly off screen it would teleport them to Kirby. The camera was fixed onto Kirby in a small area to where the second player had almost no control over the game itself. There'd be times when the second player would be platforming slightly off screen and morph into a bubble only to be teleported into a pit below without any control in doing so. Not only that but the framerate would dip significantly whenever both players were doing anything that cluttered the screen. This game is poorly optimized and feels like it released 5 years ago, as it not only lagged in co-op but also in solo play of which I can only blame on the outdated hardware found on the Nintendo Switch. If any game proved to me that the Switch desperately needs a hardware upgrade it was this game, as I could see myself enjoying this a lot more without the inconsistent frame rate issues that I've only experienced with this game. Kirby and the Forgotten Lands is a flawed game that I was both bored and entertained by. For a 5-6 hour main campaign I'm not sure if the $60 price tag was worth the price of entry, but I'd imagine for others that choice won't be as difficult as it's still a fun experience. It's not mind blowing or innovative to the genre, but it's a passable fun adventure that is definitely a highlight in the switch catalog of games.