As a big Kirby fan, the Kirby spinoff are some of my favorites. Kirby's Dream Course is one of my favorite for the Super Nintendo; I spent an absurd amount of time in City Trial for Air Ride, and I adored unlocking all the cosmetics in Canvas Curse. However, Kirby spinoffs these days have either simply repurposed the platforming mechanics of the main games, or just expanded on the sub-games from Triple Deluxe/Planet Robobot. This is why Dream Buffet makes me so happy; it is first truly unique Kirby spinoff title since Mass Attack in 2011, and I am pleased to report that it is quite fun!
In this game's main mode you partake in a series of 4 games, where the goal is to collect the most strawberries. The first and third games are races which are separated by a short minigame. The last game is a free for all where you use copy abilities to knock strawberries out of each other.
The races feel very Mario Kart inspired. Copy abilities are dished out via item boxes, but the item boxes can just randomly give you strawberries like the coins in Mario Kart. There are also a myriad of catch up mechanics like Mario Kart, though they are quite a bit more prominent here. Every time I've been confidently in first place, another Kirby always seems to somehow catch up as if they just move faster than me. In this way, the game tends to feel a lot more like Mario Party. Even if you are in the lead, that can pretty quickly change, especially if you are unlucky with the item boxes. No where is this more clear than in the free for all's. If you aren't careful, you can very easily go from first place to fourth in this last game. This can be frustrating, but still kinda fun in the masochistic Mario Party way.
The game also has bonus strawberries at the end, similar to bonus stars. These can also decide the winner, but you can aim towards winning at least some of them. The first set of bonus strawberries always goes out to the Kirby who eats the most cherries, blueberries, or blackberries during races. So aiming to eat these can net those extra strawberries, giving the bonus strawberries a little bit more strategy than the Mario Party counterpart.
As you play the game you will unlock new colors and costumes for Kirby, as well as treats to decorate a cake with designs from previous games. These are all very adorable, and any big Kirby fan will have a fun nostalgic time collecting all of the cosmetics, of which there is quite a bit.
The game does have some issues. The most bazaar issue is that the game only supports 2 player locally on one system, and those 2 players can't even go online with random people. You'd think a party game would naturally support 4 player local multiplayer, but I guess that wasn't a priority. Another problem is that the net code isn't very good. It is delay based meaning you will significantly more input delay online than offline, which isn't great. Also, if one person has a lot of ping or really bad internet, the game will play like a slideshow. Fortunately, I only have had one game play like that, though lag spikes do commonly happen throughout a game which will cause the game to freeze for a half second. This sucks, but they aren't deal breakers for me since it is primarily a fun, casual party game.
The game can also get a bit repetitive since it is very simple, and what you can do is pretty limited. However, to me, it's the type of game you play for just a few rounds here and there. It's quick to boot up, and the games themselves last less than 10 minutes. So I plan on continuing to play this game in this fashion for the next few months. Or at least until I get the Marx costume.
Kirby's Dream Buffet is a really fun online party game. It is definitely worth the $15 price tag. Just don't buy it if you were wanting to play this locally with all your friends.
In this game's main mode you partake in a series of 4 games, where the goal is to collect the most strawberries. The first and third games are races which are separated by a short minigame. The last game is a free for all where you use copy abilities to knock strawberries out of each other.
The races feel very Mario Kart inspired. Copy abilities are dished out via item boxes, but the item boxes can just randomly give you strawberries like the coins in Mario Kart. There are also a myriad of catch up mechanics like Mario Kart, though they are quite a bit more prominent here. Every time I've been confidently in first place, another Kirby always seems to somehow catch up as if they just move faster than me. In this way, the game tends to feel a lot more like Mario Party. Even if you are in the lead, that can pretty quickly change, especially if you are unlucky with the item boxes. No where is this more clear than in the free for all's. If you aren't careful, you can very easily go from first place to fourth in this last game. This can be frustrating, but still kinda fun in the masochistic Mario Party way.
The game also has bonus strawberries at the end, similar to bonus stars. These can also decide the winner, but you can aim towards winning at least some of them. The first set of bonus strawberries always goes out to the Kirby who eats the most cherries, blueberries, or blackberries during races. So aiming to eat these can net those extra strawberries, giving the bonus strawberries a little bit more strategy than the Mario Party counterpart.
As you play the game you will unlock new colors and costumes for Kirby, as well as treats to decorate a cake with designs from previous games. These are all very adorable, and any big Kirby fan will have a fun nostalgic time collecting all of the cosmetics, of which there is quite a bit.
The game does have some issues. The most bazaar issue is that the game only supports 2 player locally on one system, and those 2 players can't even go online with random people. You'd think a party game would naturally support 4 player local multiplayer, but I guess that wasn't a priority. Another problem is that the net code isn't very good. It is delay based meaning you will significantly more input delay online than offline, which isn't great. Also, if one person has a lot of ping or really bad internet, the game will play like a slideshow. Fortunately, I only have had one game play like that, though lag spikes do commonly happen throughout a game which will cause the game to freeze for a half second. This sucks, but they aren't deal breakers for me since it is primarily a fun, casual party game.
The game can also get a bit repetitive since it is very simple, and what you can do is pretty limited. However, to me, it's the type of game you play for just a few rounds here and there. It's quick to boot up, and the games themselves last less than 10 minutes. So I plan on continuing to play this game in this fashion for the next few months. Or at least until I get the Marx costume.
Kirby's Dream Buffet is a really fun online party game. It is definitely worth the $15 price tag. Just don't buy it if you were wanting to play this locally with all your friends.