Kirby: Canvas Curse 9.5
Posted: Thursday, June 30, 2005
by James Redstone
Plot: Our hero, Kirby is having a peaceful walk in Dreamland. Suddenly, the evil witch Drawcia turns the land into a painting! Kirby tries to defeat Drawcia, but she turns Kirby into a ball! Kirby then sets off to challenge Drawcia again, this time in ball form.
While not an amazing story, it still gets the job done. However, buying a Kirby game for its story is like buying a rowboat for its engine. There is no need for one, so the lack of deep storytelling doesn’t detract from the experience at all. If this turns you off, you probably are not the person who will enjoy this.
Sound: The sound effects and music fit into the game very nicely. Most of the old school sounds have been brought back, such as getting an extra life, taking damage, and getting stars. The music is bright and cheery, like the graphics. As an added bonus, the final unlockable is the option to change the music to tunes from older Kirby games. There is a sound test where you can listen to all of the music and sound effects from the game.
Control: Kirby has been turned into a ball, so you don’t control him like normal Kirby. He rolls around the screen, and you have to use the touch screen to control him. Just about every factor of your line affects Kirby. Lines cannot be too steep, or Kirby will bounce off. A loop gives Kirby extra speed. Going up is slower than going down. Drawing ramps shoot Kirby into the air. Lines can also used to defend Kirby from hazards such as cannon fire. There is a meter on the top screen that limits your lines. It recharges slowly in the air, but rapidly on the ground.
Tapping Kirby makes him roll forward. Rolling into an enemy with a power gives Kirby that power. Tapping Kirby with a power activates it. Some powers are wheel that turns Kirby into an out of control, spinning road hazard and burning that makes Kirby ignite for a second and zoom across the screen.
Gameplay: Gameplay is the most important feature of a game, and K: CC delivers. Playing is a frantic challenge of guiding Kirby through enemies, traps, and puzzles to get to the exit and find medals. Boss battles occur at the end of 3 levels. There are three types of boss battles, but they are more like minigames than anything else. There are 7 normal worlds, each with 3 levels. Once you collect 100 stars, you get an extra life. At the end of each level, there is a minigame where you must speed Kirby up and draw a ramp to shoot Kirby across the area and get extra stars. There is a final world where Kirby fight Drawcia in a boss battle similar to boss battles in other Kirby games.
The best feature of the Gameplay is that the idea is entirely new! This game takes full use of the DS’s touch capabilities when no other game has. This game hasn’t raised the bar of the touch-based platformer, because it draws the line! (Sorry, I couldn’t resist)
Replay Value: The single player is sufficient to justify the $34.99 purchase. Even with that, there is extra content to make this game a great deal. There is the Rainbow Run mode, where you run through smaller parts of a level with time or ink limitations to win medals. In Rainbow Run is a special world where you control Kirby with one specific power and must navigate an obstacle course to reach the goal. In medal swap mode, you can swap your medals for new songs for the sound test, new colors of lines, and more. Once you complete the single player with Kirby, there are also new ball characters to play as in medal swap. There are 4 extra characters total. Each one makes the single player different, so there are 5 different ways to play.
Overall: I definitely recommend this game to all DS owners. The Gameplay is fantastic and addictive.
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