Kirby’s Dream Buffet Review

Kirby fans have been eating well lately, and Kirby’s Dream Buffet might prove that while a lot of something is good, eventually, you might get sick of it. Kirby’s Dream Buffet is a game that deserves to be played the opposite of its name. Taking inspiration from Fall Guys, Mario Party and even Smash Bros, Kirby’s Dream Buffet does borrow a lot, has a lot going on – it’s just a lot.

Kirby’s Dream Buffet is a simple and fun enough concept for anyone to pick up. You race your Kirby against other Kirby’s to collect more strawberries than the others. Only the biggest Kirby will win, so it’s a balance between racing, collecting strawberries and jousting with your fellow racers. Each round only takes around 10 minutes. At first, it’s a race to the finish through a course made out of food collecting strawberries. Powerups like Mario Kart litter the track, but they’re Kiby’s copy abilities like Tornado, Jelly or turning him into a wheel for a speed boost. Courses have fairly linear paths, but there is a “best path” with more goodies if you’re willing to take the risk. It’s not all over; if you run off the course, you can flutter back up and get back racing. The first to the end can get a bonus of 50 strawberries, second place 20, and 10 for third place.

After that, you head off for a strawberry collecting mini-game, collecting them from teacups or breaking them out of blocks before returning to the races. Once the second race is over, a Super Smash Bros-style battle royale is on where you can knock others out of the arena to snatch first place (while, you guessed it, collecting strawberries). Then the Mario Party Esque tally screen gives awards for most strawberries collected or powerups used – it can turn the tide of results, so those who like things to be strictly competitive will hate it. Whether you win or lose, you’ll get some XP (and you get more XP if you play online). These points unlock different Kirby colours, costumes and decorations for your starting pad and to place upon a cake in the main menu. More courses and mini-games do unlock as you level up, but most play all the same.

That’s about where the game goes; the only difference is who and how you play it with. Playing it offline by yourself is mostly pointless; the CPU offers no challenge, and sadly the local split-screen is limited to two people. It’s still fun, but to play with four people locally, you need four Switch consoles and four copies of the game between you all. Unless all your friends are Kirby fans, you might come up short on the numbers.

Online play works well most of the time. However, it does seem if one person has a bad connection, you’ll get some stuttering along the way. This seems to vary from region to region as others I spoke to had no issues, and some had it worse than me. Results will vary. I do worry in the future you might end up playing against CPU players as it being a paid game (that feels like it could work as a free-to-play) means the user base will dwindle eventually. This isn’t to say Kirby’s Dream Buffet isn’t worth the money or should be free, but it’s the reality that when people have to pay for online, and then for a game eventually, that game will die (unless you’re the immortal Mario Kart 8 Deluxe).

One thing that Dream Buffet isn’t a slouch in at all is how it looks and how it sounds. Each course is built out of a beautiful selection of realistic looking cakes and desserts. Later on, stages with burger and BBQ themes pop up. It’s a little bit distracting, actually, but it works well. The game’s soundtrack too is delightful, the main theme for the game and all the other tracks from other games that appear all fit the game perfectly.

Kirby’s Dream Buffet has a smorgasbord of things to unlock that long-time Kirby fans will appreciate. However the gameplay is fairly shallow, and it won’t take long for you to feel like you’re enjoying the same course over and over again. The omission of a four player offering for local multiplayer on one system stops it from becoming a true party staple. The core game here is super fun, but just a few ingredients missing that stop it from becoming a true five star dish.

Rating: 3.5/5