Kirby: Canvas Curse

Voices of: N/A
Developer: HAL Laboratory
Director: Motomi Katayama
Rating: E
Genre: Platform
System: Nintendo DS
2005

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Drawcia curses Dream Land, turning it into a world of paint. Kirby, transformed into a ball, sets out to defeat her.

Review:
Tim: One of the many things I love about Nintendo is how they are always innovating. Kirby: Canvas Curse is a platformer, but unlike any Kirby platform game you've ever played. The game set out to make full use of the Nintendo DS touchscreen and stylus in an exciting, challenging, innovative game. It might not ever reach greatness, but this is a fun, totally different video game experience.

I liked the unique story the game told, too. Drawcia is a formidable and different villain, and the idea of Dream Land being turned into a paint world is interesting. Kirby, as always, sets out to save the day. The real innovations come in the gameplay- you don't directly control Kirby, he's just a ball that continually moves forward. You can tap Kirby to speed up, but your control comes in drawing lines in paint that act as ramps, bridges, or walls. I know that probably doesn't seem that innovative, but let's ponder that for a second. Think about the range of freedom this allows you, as the player- you can draw any shape, any angle of lines to progress through the level. If you need Kirby to slow down, you can abruptly stop him with a wall, or you can draw a slight upward curve to pop him up in the air. The game feels totally unique in this regard and it's a lot of fun to draw lines to accomplish each level's objectives. You accomplish all this with just the stylus- you never need the buttons on the DS. Each world has three levels, before combating the world's boss. The bosses are a little different, as they're done through sub-games.

There's a good amount to do in each level, primarily, Kirby needs to complete the level and collect 3 medals. Some of these are obvious and easy, some of them are challenging, and a couple are borderline diabolical. I did collect all 3 medals for every level in the game. If this wasn't enough, there is also a Rainbow Run mode. For this, there's Time Trial and Line Trial, which limits the amount of paint you can use. Let me tell you, this was oftentimes extremely challenging. There's a few that I grew so frustrated with- it really forces you to perfect your skills, either at speeding through levels at a breakneck pace, or to use all your intelligence to limit how much you draw in a level. I give HAL Laboratory so much credit- you can beat the game without doing the Rainbow Run levels, but players looking to master the game have this option. I got great at this game by refining my skills over and over to complete these challenges. Each one gives you additional medals.

This is one aspect of the game that did ultimately frustrate me. The game itself isn't very long, but the ask to collect all the medals is. Once you complete the entire game with Kirby (and I still can't fully believe this), you are asked to complete the entire game with additional characters- Waddle Dee, King Dedede, and Meta Knight. Waddle Dee is slow but very bouncy, Dedede is massive and moves glacially, and Meta Knight is extremely fast. Yes, this does throw an interesting challenge at the player- each character's unique qualities changes how you play each level. I had no desire to keep playing the game, but I beat the entire game with all three of these additional characters. Think about that for a second- I beat every level 4 times, including the final boss. That's ridiculous. And, to put a cherry on top, once you do that, it opens another character, Waddle Doo. This is where I drew a line (hahaha). I wasn't going to complete every level again with Waddle Doo. I admit, I finished the first three worlds with him, just to experience the character. I found the weird attack thing he does immensely annoying. I could have completed the game for a fifth time, but just, no thank you. There's also this whole Sub-Games challenge that I played a few times, but it annoyed me. So, without doing those last few things, I ended my run collecting 245/250 medals, for a 95.2% completion rate. I'm sure I could have gotten to 100%, but I felt like my 18:10 playing this game was enough. On the one hand, this game deserves credit for giving so much content for players. On the other hand, think about the repetitiveness of the game's ask. I beat every level 4+ times, including the final boss, and the game wanted me to do it 5x. I get providing content to characters, but this game was unnecessarily repetitive.

Still, we don't have to just focus on that. The game itself was wildly fun at times. It offers players a totally unique experience in the Kirby world. This the 8th game in the main franchise (I know many people consider this a spin-off, but I don't- it is a Kirby platform game, and I think it should be included in the main series). I'd beaten the previous 7 and I love how this game changed up the formula. Kudos to Nintendo, kudos to HAL, and kudos to that wonderful pink blob. Kirby might not get the same respect that many other video game characters do, but he's iconic. I enjoyed (mostly) this departure from the norm.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Kirby: Squeak Squad, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse