this game was a bit of a risk for Nintendo since this is the first mainstream Kirby game, and i must say, they did an absolutely fabulous transformation from 2D to 3D

the game has fun and engaging gameplay, interesting new features like mouthful mode, copy-ability evolution, and waddle-dee town, great aesthetic, and a vast world to explore, the game is absolutely perfect...

or it would be, if not for these 2 little details...

1) every level has 4 missions, each rewarding you with a waddle-dee for your town, along with there being hidden waddle-dees which you must scout out, and 3 for completing each level, sounds fun right...? actually, not really. it could be a very fun mechanic, adding small extra challenges to gameplay, but the thing is, you are not told what the missions are (at least not when you first play the level, after you beat the level, one of the missions which you did not complete is told to you). you have absolutely no way of knowing what you have to do, and 9/10 times will have to replay the level (maybe twice) to complete these goals. this feature puts a real dampener on gameplay and drags the game a little bit, especially for a completionist like me, who only moves on from a level after he has 100% completed the level he is on.

2) a small collection of levels called "treasure road". this, again, could be a good, and fun concept. what treasure road is is a collection of short, timed courses each ranging from 1-3 mins each, and you must use a specific copy-ability (or mouthful mode) to get through it. this seems like a good idea, but there are two flaws. the first is the sheer amount of them. usually, there are 2-4 hidden ones per world on the world map which you have to search for, and 1-2 also open after each level. this eventually adds up to way too many courses, and if you take the method which i take, you must pause between levels to do them. the second flaw is "target times". these little pieces of bulls@#! are one of the most agonizing parts of any Kirby game that you will ever find. as mentioned before, you are timed when you are in treasure road, but these "target times" force you to shave anywhere from 15-90 seconds off of your time in a course, and oh boy, i have spent at least 2 hours more on this game than i would have without target times.

in conclusion, this game was very fun to play, but if it were improved in the two aforementioned areas, it would be perfect