Kirby's Dream Land

"Okay game, but a bit too easy"

After reading my originally submitted review for this, I think I was ready to throw myself in traffic. No, I didn't misjudge this game, Kirby's Dream Land, It was just a horrid little review. Anyway, I think back to waking up one morning, I believe I was in about sixth grade, and watching the usual stock of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Tiny Toon Adventures. Suddenly, a commercial came on. They were comparing Kirby to some big buff guy. Of course, they eventually established Kirby as being the bigger badass of the two, followed by Kirby eating the guy. Eventually, I would acquire $20 (by winning a Pepsi contest, no less) and purchase this game. Wow, was I impressed those first three hours. Then I finished it. Yes, within the first three or so hours of owning the game, I had it finished. This is probably among the quickest I've ever finished a game (right next to Kid Klown in Night Mayor World). You see, despite superlative audio and visuals, this game lacks in the realm of challenge. Thankfully, there is a hard mode in case anyone wants that challenge.

Now, not that it's any sort of surprise, but in Kirby's Dream Land, you play Kirby. Wow, what a concept! Anyhoo, Kirby's homeworld, Dream Land, has been sent into a major state of shock after the nefarious King Dedede takes all of Dream Land's food. Everyone cries, a few others piss and moan a bit, and I think some even resort to cannibalism. Well, one of our Dream Landians will just not stand for anymore (yes, I'm talking about Kirby). Brushing off hunger the best he can, Kirby suits down for battle with Dedede and his minions of cutesy darkness.

What exact is Kirby's arsenal, you might ask? His ever powerful ability to eat and regurgitate. You see, to attack you can suck in enemies and other objects (even air, which he can use to fly and also use as a weapon) and use them as weapons against other enemies. If you want, you can even swallow the enemies, although that really does not beget any particular advantage. In the end, it'll probably all just give Kirby indigestion. This whole concept of eating and spitting back almost sounds like something from a game featuring Yoshi. This, however, takes it to the next level in allow you to use the enemies as weapons. The best part about it all is that the controls are extremely smooth. This helps out quite a bit while flying, as you do need to maneuver quickly in tricky situations.

Yes, the gameplay is unique, and the other elements of the game do their part to contribute to it. You might suspect that since this is a platformer that the levels will have an all too familiar flow. The flow of levels is somewhat ordinary, but a few twists have been added to some levels to give them a bit more originality and unique design. Unlike games like Adventures of Star Saver, the levels are not just a straight forward flow. To keep from doing this, hidden items, rooms, and level branches have been placed all over. If you don't feel like going one way, you could seek out another door and possibly go through that way (only in some levels, of course). To top this off, every level is very well designed graphically. Environments are authentic to the sight with detailed backgrounds and environment hazards that complement each area. This beats even the boss designs, which are among the furthest cries in the game graphically. Even the boss battles at the end of the level give each level a unique flavor. Each boss requires different strategies to kill instead of just the same ''go for the throat'' method that most platformers of this era used.

Put aside any dark rituals that the executives might take part in in an attempt to try to raise the sales of their game by appeasing an angry god, one thing that really contributes greatly to any piece of art and entertainment is atmosphere. What would Silent Hill be without the depraved soundtrack, darkness all around, and sanity wracking sound effects? Yeah, it would be as scary as I Know What You Did Last Summer. Kirby's Dream Land is not a scary game, but the developers went the extra distance to place into the game all the graphical and sound quality that the Gameboy had to make a game that gave you the feeling of a sense of purpose. Sure, not many of us can relate to a guy who's had his nation's store of food stolen. However, while playing through the game and hearing the music and seeing what he must go through, you feel that Kirby's quest is much more important than the booklet leads you to believe. The enemies also carried a very distinct design (despite the fact that they could all very easily pass for enemies in Super Mario Bros. 2/Doki Doki Panic). Even though they look a bit like your typical ''cute'' enemies, you can almost sense the deadly side to each one. Yes, even that stupid bomb-throwing elfish thing in level one that gabs at you. It is a well crafted platformer. 'Nuff said.

It is a must to have great music in a platformer. Since some of the best platformers have an eclectic usage of environments, it would only make sense to sell the lie a bit better with more appropriate music. Seriously, some of the music in this game really raised my ire quite a bit, in particular the final boss music. Each realm that you must go to really sets the mood for the area and the moment. Walking through the island level gives you calm and relaxing music, the type you would almost imagine when being surrounded by nothing but sea water and sand while resting on beach. Lololo's castle gives you the certain impression of mystery and suspense waiting within the walls. The sound effects also add gingerly, but nothing incredibly much (at least not nearly as much as the music). Most of them are your basic pops and snaps, mixed with some vacuuming and a loud screech.

There's no need to worry. All of this can easily be explored in a few playthroughs. Why do I say that? The game in incredibly easy. Even as a young pre-teen, I was able to finish this in a few hours, and I was a much worse player then than I am now. It could be that the game was meant to be marketed to a younger crowd who would only truly appreciate the game if it was easy. Either that or they made it so incredibly hard before that a few of their beta testers would up in an asylum. Whatever the reason, the fact still remains that it's almost an effortless polish. Thankfully, there is a hard mode that you can access, which is revealed when you finish the game.

He's small, he's white, and he sucks, and no he isn't Chester Bennington. The first Kirby game proved to be quite a successful title. After this, the series of games took off with much steam behind it, carrying the banner of many great titles behind it. You have to hand it to Hal Laboratories. They developed a solid title that launched a successful series. The minor flaws in this first game are well worth looking over. There was much room for improvement made, and improvement was made with every game. Kirby's Adventure for the NES is proof of that. However, this game does leave a little to be desired. A little harder normal difficulty and one more level would have really brought the grade up for this game. All in all, however, Kirby's Dream Land gets my full recommendation, despite only having a 7/10.

FINAL JUDGMENT
Graphics: Not too bad 8/10
Sounds: Good for GB 9/10
Controls: Easy enough 8/10
Plot/Storyline: Nothing really big here 3/10
Gameplay: Something different, although very easy 7/10
All Together: 7/10

Perks
*Great sound
*Good graphics
*A new type of platformer
*Interesting, new, and original gameplay ideas

Downers
*Too easy
*Needed maybe one more level
*Lacking replay

Recommendations
Only if you want another decent platform game in your collection do I recommend this. Veteran gamers may be a bit bored with it as they would probably finish it right away.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 01/16/01, Updated 07/02/03