This is about exactly what you'd expect from a Good Feel game, which is to say an easy game that is mostly style over substance. It's a very charming game and a lot of that is just the fact that it's the second Princess Peach solo game ever, and the first that isn't a wee bit sexist. Seeing her in so many wacky situations and not with Mario or any other major Mario character (aside from Toad shortly) is pretty neat, all the new designs and silly situations are just pretty cool to see especially for Peach.
The game is simple and doesn't feel like stand out amazing but pretty much every power-up is fun. A few of them are very similar ideas but are so bite-sized that you don't really feel it. The only power-up I dreaded seeing again was the detective power-up. The whole game is very easy but you really feel it with the detective power-up because the puzzles are so nothing and simple you don't get much satisfaction from them (says the 23-year-old man playing the game made for 5-year-olds) and they're also just extremely slow compared to the rest of the power-ups. I only really have like 2 major negatives overall. One negative is the performance has very weird hitches, it's not a huge issue because the actual levels are pretty much entirely smooth but very oddly so many starts of cutscenes and especially the loading screens fucking TANK and are at like 3 fps the entire time it's very bizarre. The other negative and the one that actually matters is how the game handles collectibles. It's very anti-QoL in this regard, very similar to older Kirby games in that if you miss a collectible or goal at a specific part of the level or if you fail the little goal or even get pushed into the next screen by accidentally doing the main goal before the bonus goal (which happened to me a lot) you just cannot retry or go back to get that collectible. You also can't just go back to a level, grab the one you missed, and then leave the level to keep it. It's very frustrating getting caught off guard by a new mechanic for an ability and missing out on a gem and just not being able to try and get it again without redoing the entire level and being forced to finish it again. This is totally the kind of game where I'd very much want to 100% each level and get all of the things but I'd pretty consistently miss a single collectible on most levels and I don't have a drive to basically replay the entire game.
Collectible frustrations aside this doesn't feel like a very replayable game, a lot of the joy is that initial surprise and charm of each new level and experience and after that it's just a pretty average game overall. That's not a terrible thing, and like I mentioned at the start it's average Good Feel and just having Peach being the star over like a Yoshi or a Kirby helps it a lot and makes it feel more worthwhile in their catalogue in 2024 at least. Overall fine for a quick one time playthrough but also pretty hard to justify for $60.
The game is simple and doesn't feel like stand out amazing but pretty much every power-up is fun. A few of them are very similar ideas but are so bite-sized that you don't really feel it. The only power-up I dreaded seeing again was the detective power-up. The whole game is very easy but you really feel it with the detective power-up because the puzzles are so nothing and simple you don't get much satisfaction from them (says the 23-year-old man playing the game made for 5-year-olds) and they're also just extremely slow compared to the rest of the power-ups. I only really have like 2 major negatives overall. One negative is the performance has very weird hitches, it's not a huge issue because the actual levels are pretty much entirely smooth but very oddly so many starts of cutscenes and especially the loading screens fucking TANK and are at like 3 fps the entire time it's very bizarre. The other negative and the one that actually matters is how the game handles collectibles. It's very anti-QoL in this regard, very similar to older Kirby games in that if you miss a collectible or goal at a specific part of the level or if you fail the little goal or even get pushed into the next screen by accidentally doing the main goal before the bonus goal (which happened to me a lot) you just cannot retry or go back to get that collectible. You also can't just go back to a level, grab the one you missed, and then leave the level to keep it. It's very frustrating getting caught off guard by a new mechanic for an ability and missing out on a gem and just not being able to try and get it again without redoing the entire level and being forced to finish it again. This is totally the kind of game where I'd very much want to 100% each level and get all of the things but I'd pretty consistently miss a single collectible on most levels and I don't have a drive to basically replay the entire game.
Collectible frustrations aside this doesn't feel like a very replayable game, a lot of the joy is that initial surprise and charm of each new level and experience and after that it's just a pretty average game overall. That's not a terrible thing, and like I mentioned at the start it's average Good Feel and just having Peach being the star over like a Yoshi or a Kirby helps it a lot and makes it feel more worthwhile in their catalogue in 2024 at least. Overall fine for a quick one time playthrough but also pretty hard to justify for $60.