Created very late in the life cycle of the Super Nintendo, Kirby's Dream Land 3 may be fairly unknown to the mainstream public - at least, I would think so. By 1997, the Nintendo 64 was in full swing, armed with a plethora of terrific games like Super Mario 64 and Goldeneye as examples, and the aging SNES was reduced to a few annual sports titles until it was finally discontinued. The SNES got its great swan song a year earlier with Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, which turned out to be its best game as well. So, it seems a little odd, as Nintendo would release Kirby's Dream Land 3, so late in time.

     To be fair, it's a decent game, a serviceable one, but unfortunately not a memorable one. As a longtime fan of Kirby games, from the pink puff's first foray onto GameBoy Kirby's Dream Land, to the epic NES game Kirby's Adventure, to the very best of the bunch - Kirby Super Star for the SNES. Clearly, Kirby games have enjoyed plenty of success, but Dream Land 3 falls flat. It doesn't deviate that much from the traditional and familiar formula of the series, but its biggest difference I'd say is in its graphics and gameplay. As for the former, the visuals are very impressive - they have a light, pleasant, very hand-drawn sort of look (more so than the previous games in the series), however, they aren't the best in the series; either way, they still look nice.

     The gameplay is also different, but in a bad way - and this is where the game ultimately loses its punch and replayability. It is remarkably slow. How so? The controls are generally unresponsive, and the action just doesn't seem to move. It's as if the game is operating on only 75% of its power - things just simply drag. It's very disconcerting considering how quick and energetic the previous Kirby games were.

     One saving grace for the game is its formula. The Kirby formula of traversing through nicely ordained stages, sucking up enemies, and absorbing their various powers, is still a blast. Also, Kirby can now ride various types of forest animals that aid him throughout levels - it's a nice touch to the standard Kirby formula. However, like I said, the sluggish gameplay drags down the experience.

     In the end, Kirby's Dream Land 3 is just a bit forgettable. It's not terrible, but it's not great either. It sort of exists in video game purgatory, and while it will certainly provide some enjoyable moments, the overall experience is marred and hindered by strangely slow gameplay. I only reccomend it if you can look past its issues. In any case, I say stick to Kirby Super Star.

-Kurt L.

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