This year’s surprise announcement was Kirby’s Dream Buffet. It comes out not long after Kirby’s Forgotten Land, which transformed Kirby’s journey into a 3D world. Dream Buffet feels more like a tiny gameplay mode of a Kirby game that was split off into its own game than a thrilling adventure like Kirby’s Forgotten Land.
Based on the initial trailer, my first impression of Kirby’s Dream Buffet was that it was attempting to appeal to fans of Battle Royale games such as Fall Guys. After playing it, I don’t believe this is the case. Kirby’s Dream Buffet is a long way from Fall Guys. It feels like a separate game that takes Kirby’s eating powers and applies them to a competitive multiplayer game. It is intended to be played casually as a fun game for kids and families, with an emphasis on multiplayer.
The price of Kirby’s Dream Buffet must be mentioned. It’s only $14.99, which is around the price of a tiny indie game these days. If you have some friends to play the game with, you can have hours of fun here. However, as a single experience, the game might get tedious due to the lack of variation in its gameplay modes. There is the option of selecting multiple CPU difficulty settings, however, these do not give much longevity.
Kirby’s Dream Buffet reminds me of Katamari Damacy in that we will be rolling down a little Kirby and allowing him to eat Strawberries gradually until his size increases. The game is similar to Super Monkey Ball in that we roll a spherical object and gather fruits. The similarities with Fall Guys end with the player having to reach the finish of the round before others, but failing to do so does not entail failure.
The way players are rewarded at the end of each round in Gourmet Grand Prix Mode is also influenced by the Mario Party series. We also have a Mario Kart-inspired gameplay feature with power-ups that can be collected and used throughout each track. The Gourmet Grand Prix mode requires the player to go through four stages. Because of the lack of variation in the tracks, it is possible to observe repeated stages. Along the way, there will be enemies and obstacles to avoid, as well as other players who will be a problem.
This mode attempts to mix things up by offering different stages of gameplay e.g the first one is a race to the finish line which is followed by an arena-based battle royale to knock the opponent out. This can happen for the four stages until the last round where everyone is measured based on their performance. It often turned out to be the case that the user with the most strawberries can still end up falling short of the goal thanks to the end-of-the-round rewards, akin to the stars given at the end of a round in Mario Party.
There are a lot of unlockables to go through because Kirby receives experience points after each match to level up his Gourmet Rank. This results in unlockables such as outfits and colors, as well as numerous treats that may be utilized to customize our character. There are more than enough unlockables here to keep us entertained for hours, but the monotonous nature of the game, especially with AI, prevents us from doing so. However, multiplayer is still appreciated, especially with friends and family, thus the game has some replay value.
Disclaimer: This review was conducted with a review copy provided by Nintendo UK.
Kirby's Dream Buffet should be considered a small spin-off rather than a direct sequel to Kirby's Forgotten Land, and in that aspect, this title does provide hours of entertainment even if parts of it feels repetitive.