Kirby's Dream Buffet

Some games are content with just being a fun time without anything deeper beneath the surface. Kirby's Dream Buffet certainly isn't the most layered game on the market, but what it does do is enjoyable for the time you put into it. It offers a new spin on the battle royale formula and combines aspects from the Mario Party franchise and Fall Guys, and players will find themselves investing more time and effort into this free-for-all than they'd initially expect. First, players will compete in a race to the finish, with the goal being three sets of strawberries -- with higher stakes for whoever can snag them first. These courses are sickeningly sweet treats, both literally and visually, changing with every competitive set. Afterward, players will tackle mini-games, getting a necessary break from the previous race.

Finally, it's time for the battle royale, where players will use power-ups to knock each other off the stage and claim as many strawberries as possible. Despite the subgenre being done a multitude of times over the years, Kirby's Dream Buffet manages to add a delightful twist on the battle royale formula, being both tense and exciting as you knock other players around in a last-ditch effort to claim the most strawberries to secure your win. At the end, before a winner is announced, strawberries are awarded for defeating the most enemies, knocking over the most barriers, using the most copy abilities, etc. Even if a particular player has been doing well throughout the entire competition, that's the moment that can completely turn a game on its head. There are also good incentives offered along the way: Players can slowly unlock costumes, courses, mini-games, and a host of other fun goodies that will keep the gameplay from getting too stale. Is Kirby's Dream Buffet reinventing the wheel? No. But this game proves that sometimes it's perfectly fine to offer a different take on familiar formulas -- as long as you make the final product your own.