PETER HOSKIN: Why Kirby’s so much more than just a pink puffball…
Kirby’s Return To Dream Land (Nintendo Switch, £49.99)
Verdict: Pretty in pink
Rating: 
And so it came to pass that one of the best games of 2023 was also one of the most overlooked games of 2011.
Or at least it was overlooked by me. I never played Kirby’s Return To Dream Land when it first came out over a decade ago — perhaps because, to me, this pink puffball seemed like a second-rate Nintendo character when compared to Link from the Zelda games or, of course, the great Mario.
But I’m older now — and, I tell myself, wiser. Kirby’s Return To Dream Land has just been released again for the Switch. The visuals have been updated; new gameplay refinements made; extra levels added. And it’s fantastic.
A lot of this edition’s qualities were, I imagine, present in the original. Kirby, for one, has his usual physiology: he hops and floats through levels, breathing deep of the cartoon air, and sucking in everything in his path — including new abilities that change what he can do.
One minute he’s a spiky prickle-monster; the next a whip-cracking ranchero. These abilities have more variety and nuance to them than, say, Mario’s equivalents. They feel like entirely different ways to play.
I never played Kirby’s Return To Dream Land when it first came out over a decade ago — perhaps because, to me, this pink puffball seemed like a second-rate Nintendo character
Kirby, for one, has his usual physiology: he hops and floats through levels, breathing deep of the cartoon air, and sucking in everything in his path
Then there are the other different ways to play. Kirby’s Return To Dream Land makes a lot of the extra mini-games that have been devised for you by Magolor, the alien being who demands your help in the main story. These fun little challenges can be played against the console or up to three friends — just pick your character and compete.
Me? I always pick Kirby. That pink puffball is my hero now. Turns out that I was the second-rater all along.
Company Of Heroes 3 (PC, £49.99)
Verdict: Tactical brilliance, strategic routineness
Rating: 
It’s been ten years since Company Of Heroes 2. Or, we might say, almost two Second World Wars.
Which presents this new sequel, Company Of Heroes 3, with a challenge: it needs to remind folk of what made the Company Of Heroes series so popular in the first place, while also freshening things up for desktop generals who have enjoyed a whole decade of bigger, brighter, more capable wargames in the meantime.
Does it succeed? Mostly. At the core of Company Of Heroes 3 is the old Company Of Heroes experience: you’re moving little troops and tanks around beautifully detailed battlefields and engaging in quickfire fights against either Axis or Allied forces, depending on whether you chose to be good or to be German.
These fights are fast-paced and often chaotic, but never confusing. As always, Company Of Heroes keeps things manageable enough that you feel as though you’re making actual tactical choices, rather than just mashing the mouse button.
Then, as in the previous games, there’s the fact that all these skirmishes join up into great campaigns — in Italy and North Africa, this time. Your soldiers don’t just make progress territorially, but also through a narrative and in your affections.
At the core of Company Of Heroes 3 is the old Company Of Heroes experience: you’re moving little troops and tanks around beautifully detailed battlefields and engaging in quickfire fights
As always, Company Of Heroes keeps things manageable enough that you feel as though you’re making actual tactical choices
What’s new is a (literally) higher form of warfare. The campaigns introduce ‘dynamic’ maps to the series — huge overhead slices of entire countries, over which you make grand strategic decisions, such as which beaches to invade or which towns to attack.
This is a valiant attempt to recreate the more sophisticated forms of play found in, say, the Total War games — and when it comes off, when your strategic decisions make a real difference on the ground, it’s great.
The problem is that this part sometimes feels a bit… dull. Aimless, even. Pushing pieces around a map had me longing, too often, for the clamour and immediacy of battle.
So back to battle I went. Engineers, take that gun! Tanks to the right! Infantry advance! Company of Heroes, it’s been a while — but I’m still one of WW2’s greatest commanders.
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