Dreamland 3's formula for Kirby simply doesn't work. Its not so much that Dreamland 3 is a bad game, but its a boring one. While a lot of Kirby games hit you with a lot of levels and abilities to copy, Dreamland 3 just makes this feel tedious. The majority of levels last far too long and overstay their welcome way too often. The only actual seeming improvement of the Kirby formula was the side missions and these often come off as too vague to even get the first time around. Combine this with the longer levels and the tediousness of backtracking, and it really creates a system that just doesn't feel rewarding enough to complete. The additional animals are a nice touch as well, but a lot of the abilities the new animals give just aren't as interesting as the animals that are already established. Co-op is rather lackluster with the 2nd player acting more as a dubious player rather than actually working together with the 1st player. Overall Dreamland 3 brings nothing worthwhile to the table to really shine past other Kirby games.
Although its not to say that Dreamland 3 doesnt have some charm in it either. Compared to other Kirby games, this is perhaps they most atmospheric Kirby game yet. With the majority of it looking like it was colored in crayon that gives it a Yoshi's Island vibe to it. As well much the music is very calming and relaxing throughout, and if you like that kind of thing, you should like Kirby Dreamland 3. Course a lot of this screams a kids game, and in many ways Dreamland 3 is exactly that and it doesn’t try to hide that. Course as usual with most Kirby games, a nightmarish boss and music come to life at the very end turning a cutesy game into quite the creepy showdown.
Final Thoughts:
Dreamland 3 does very little to impress, and a whole lot to make the player bored. While the visuals and music make Dreamland 3 one of the most atmospheric Kirby's yet, the tedious gameplay holds it back. While it may not be a bad game per se; it certainly isn't a good one, with a lot of problems steaming from unnecessary long levels, vague side-missions, seemingly useless additions, and mindless co-op.