Surprise is a very bittersweet thing. Some surprises are good. Your friends just threw a surprise party? Awesome! But some surprises... they catch us off guard, throw us into turmoil and cause grief. Your best friend reveals they were using you to get close to another friend? How horrible!!
One good surprise Kirby fans got way back in 2005 was the announcement of a new Kirby game for the gamecube, Kirby's Journey. Unfortunately the game went through a bit of development hell and got cancelled and reannounced three times under different names. Finally after six years, Kirby's Return to Dreamland took a few elements from the cancelled Gamecube games and was released for the Wii in 2011. The question is, 'Was the wait worth it?'
Well... you'll see.

~Delicious Graphics~
Kirby games have this advantage where they are often made near the end of a system's life, so they have the advantage of knowing exactly what the hardware is capable of in terms of graphics and put that info to good use. You may sneak a glance at a screenshot and think I'm crazy for thinking it's anything special, but if you look around at all the different stages and pay attention to all the details in the background and tileset, you'll get an idea of what I mean. They might not push the boundaries or anything, but they still look stunning. Even the hub worlds have little areas to look around, even if nothing in particular is around.
Nutty Noon in particular looks amazing. The gorgeous sunset set in the background of some ancient stone structure... Beautiful.

~A return indeed, though it's still different~
As someone who has been a staunch fan of Air Ride's soundtrack, this game... this game blew Air Ride out of the water with its OST. There isn't quite as much variety in tone as Air Ride has, but unlike Air Ride, it manages to retain a feeling of childish nostalgia without using half of the soundtrack from Super Star. The instrument range is also fantastic, lending itself to both the mechanical tensity of Egg Engines and the more cheerful western style of Raisin Ruins easily. It's a variety that's always appreciated.
As far as some standout pieces, many people have heard CROWNED or The Adventure Begins, but have you listened to Steel Station or Chilly Area? Chilly Area plays more on the serenity of snow (something rare for the playful Kirby), and may remind some long time Kirby goers of Crystal Shards' Shiver Star.
Steel Station also has a somewhat dark tone to it, but it's far more upbeat, like you're just moving along like a machine at this point. It's definitely catchier (And I prefer it to Factory Investigation, shh!) but still holds a similar tone to Chilly Area.
It's variety and nostalgia in a way that I'm a-okay with.

~A cute, if somewhat familiar story~
It starts off as just another day in Dreamland; Kirby's protecting his cake from Dedede, Bandana Dee is trying to help his King, and Metaknight is just casually reading a book and ignoring everything. Suddenly, a bright light in the sky interrupts the usual chaos and a starship appears out of nowhere. Parts are strewn everywhere and the ship crash lands nearby.
When the foursome go to check it out, they find a distraught little alien named Magolor, who is now stranded away from his home, Helcandria, thanks to a fearsome dragon named Landia. In order to get back, he needs all 5 of his ship parts and as many energy spheres as Kirby and the gang can find.
Kirby, being the... uh... kind soul that he is, offers to help Magolor rebuild his ship, the Lor Starcutter, AND defeat the evil Landia.
So begins the adventure to help the little alien!
... But is it really that simple?
Long story short, there is a twist or two in this game, and whether you know it or not depends on your exposure to Return to Dreamland. If you've seen it around youtube at all, you probably know what it is already, but on the off chance you haven't, don't soil it for yourself. It's a nice little twist that may just blind side you at the very last moment.

~Pretty much a more fleshed out Super Star~
Kirby's Return to Dreamland has a ton to play around with in terms of copy abilities. Every single copy ability in Super Star except Yo-yo, Mirror, Wheel and Jet make their reappearance in this game. Not only that but they've all gotten major buffs as well. From new combos (which are done in a similar fashion to Kirby Super Star) to more invincibility frames (Hello Hammer!), the abilities are at their best in this game. Ninja especially feels buffed up with a new upper cut move and Blossom Storm.
But wait, there's more!
If you call now and order this game, it comes with 4 new copy abilities, FREE!!
That's right, Leaf, Water, Whip, and Spear have all been added to this game! While Whip feels kind of underwhelming, especially on bosses, the other three are a blast to play around with, especially with Water Kirby being long overdue. Leaf is also pretty much the new plasma, in terms of being over powered. Leaf's guard not only guards you from ALL damage but it's uppercut also does crazy amount of damage on bosses, even in EX mode!
Also new to this game are Ultra Abilities (Sword, Beam, Hammer, Ice and Fire).They all look amazing and flashy and feel satisfying to use, but their limited availability puts a bit of a damper on the idea.
Well, I guess let's move- WAIT! I forgot about the multiplayer!
Though if I'm honest, there isn't too much to say, other than you can have up to three people, and they can choose to be either Dedede (Hammer Ability), Metaknight (Combination of Sword and Wing), Bandana Dee (Spear), or a different coloured Kirby. It's a bit New Super Mario Bros.-esque but it's still a nice feature.
NOW let's move on!

~No big shortage of things to do~
Usually, in order to 100% a Kirby game all you really need to do to is finish the main story with all the collectibles and you're pretty much good to go.
As you may have guessed from the story section, the big collectible in Return to Dreamland is the energy spheres. There's 120 total spread through 7 worlds and as you gather more energy spheres, the Lor Starcutter opens up for you more and more, giving you more to come back for. While there is copy rooms, you can also unlock a couple of minigames (Scope shot, a third person shooting range type of deal, and Shuriken Throw, which is a little target practice where you simply go for the bullseye) and, more importantly, Challenge Rooms. There are a total of 8, and the better you do in a challenge room (the more enemies you hit, the more medals you collect etc.) the better your rank is. If you go through a room perfectly, you can even get a Platinum rank! Don't expect that to be easy though. You really need to have proper mastery of the copy Ability in question to do well. Thankfully, you only need to beat each challenge room once with any rank to get 100%. The Platinum ranks are really only there if you're feeling hardcore enough.
There's also an Arena you unlock once you beat the main mode. It's essentially a little boss rush you can do in your own time that's similar to any other Kirby Boss Rush.
Ala Nightmare in Dreamland, Return to Dreamland also has a hard mode once you beat the regular story mode. In this hard mode (EX Mode), you have half health, the stages include more Key Scarfies, and all minibosses and bosses have tougher attack patterns and take twice as much damage.
This is truly a test of skill, and if you manage to beat it, you brave soul you, you get the True Arena. The True Arena is essentially the same idea as the arena, but with two bonus bosses and the new and improved bosses.
If all of that somehow isn't enough to keep you occupied for a long time I don't know WHAT is.

~ American Kirby is... um... not that hardcore?~
I admit, I haven't played too many Kirby games out there besides the more simple platformers, but putting aside the EX mode Return to Dreamland really isn't very difficult. This game follows the typical Kirby trend of the bosses being hard and the stages being mind numbingly easy. Aside from a few bosses here and there, pretty much every death I had was me being stupid and jumping into pits because I forgot I could fly. Kirby is a fun series and all, but until you unlock EX mode, at most you might have a bit of trouble with some of the later Energy Spheres and bosses.

~EX-tras~
- No Mirror or Yoyo *silently cries*
+ Dat music
+ Nearly every ability is more fun than ever
+ The bosses are fun, if a bit predictable after a while
+ Wheel is merged with Needle
- Needle still sucks
+ Besides (arguably) Whip, everything new works very well

And with that, I bring this little adventure to a close. I'm overall happy I picked this game and it was worth all the hype I had going into it. I leave this game with a solid 8 and await the next journey into Dreamland eagerly.

This is I believe the first review I read from you, and man I am impressed! Excellent structure, abundant details AND lots of comparison with both other Kirby and Wii games to show its technical prowess.

janus :
Thank you! I don't know what it is about Kirby, but it's the one series where I just kind of naturally compare them all. I'll actually have to keep that in mind for my next reviews. I'd tell you to check out all my other reviews too, if they weren't a bit hit or miss, hehe.

Great review Gamin' I enjoyed reading it. I actually read this review earlier but I didn't have a chance to post here until now. You had great structure and it was interesting as well which is always great. I hope to read more reviews from you in the future

Very well done,Gamin! I really likes how you compared old abilities, along with new. And the review structure was great too! I look forward to seeing some more reviews from you.