Kirby Canvas Curse

[chuddy_2001uk]

Chuddy gets his hands on Kirby’s latest game and gives us a full hands on review of this already classic DS game…

Kirby. The pink son-of-a-blob has been around for donkey’s years and he’s back to kick some human ass once again. “How?” you ask? Well Nintendo has chucked out another great game for the DS, a game called Kirby Canvas Curse, but will it live up to the high expectations?


Kirby was born in the year of 1992. He made his first appearance on the black and green screen - Game Boy. He then went on to star in games that were sowing up for the NES, N64, Game Boy colour and even on the not-so-good E-Reader. Even though he was a Nintendo mascot people didn’t love him like they did for Mario or Link. As he got older he made more frequent appearances. Kirby showed his (rather large) face in Super Smash Bros for both N64 and Nintendo GameCube which was a pleasant surprise and had a game racing type game that was based solely around the pink ball of love. Anyway enough of the History lesson, let’s get started.



Kirby Canvas Curse keeps the Kirby trend of being a plat-former so no 3D guys it’s just 2D this time. KCC is no ordinary platform game though, it’s totally different form what has been done before and makes total use of the touch screen. Kirby now has no legs due to the Canvas Curse so the only method of transport for the pink critter is that stylus that came with your DS. By having no “button” control over the character may confuse some, but believe me it works wonders and really puts the spot light on your raw touching skills. You see Kirby CC is a DS title that was specifically made for the touch sensitive screen and wouldn’t of seen a place in the market if it was on another system.


Storyline

Nintendo like to keep it simple and this “talent” of theirs sticks out like a sore, but also very welcoming, thumb in this game. When you boot up the game you are greeted with a scrolling, word processed story. To cut a short story even shorter this game is about a strange Witch who changes Dream Land into a world of paintings. Kirby chases her into a portal where the paintings are portrayed and the Witch then struts her stuff only to result in Kirby loosing his legs and puny arms. As strange and unnecessary as it may sound, Canvas Curse doesn’t need an extravagant and in-depth story to push it’s score up it’s how it plays and the sheer difference that pours from it which will make you smile that you purchased the DS. So, it’s up to you to guide Kirby around by the power of your now-infused-with- the-power-to-paint stylus and not with those dull D-pad and buttons.


Gameplay

When releasing the Nintendo DS to the world, Nintendo say that “touching is good”. Well, slap me silly and call me Rudolph; they didn’t lie. You don’t use the analogue controls in Canvas Curse, all manoeuvres are conducted with your stylus. For this to happen the action takes place on the lower, touch sensitive touch screen. As said previously, Kirby is just a spherical blob now, and he just keeps rolling around aimlessly but it’s up to the player to draw/paint cute little rainbow lines for Kirby to roll over. You see, Kirby will stick to the rainbow line and only roll in the direction that it was drawn which comes to some strategic thinking and problem solving in the majority of what you play. There is one catch though, you only have a limited amount of paint and your current ink cartridge is shown on the top screen but watching your ink rapidly dry out when your happily riding lines about deadly spikes is not a lot fun so you have to make sure you use it wisely or Kirby will be more red than pink. Having an empty cartridge is not a welcoming event but ink can be magically replenished if you simply do not draw any rainbow lines or if you make Kirby roll across safe land, which is more efficient as when you are airborne don’t expect your ink to be gushing in. The power of the paintbrush also allows you to draw walls for Kirby to bounce off if you find him going off in the wrong direction which happens quite often if your not careful. As always, practise makes perfect. As well as the paint acting as walls they can act as shields also which can prove to be quite useful for oncoming fire or pesky lasers that block the path forward. Easy to do but very effective and innovative.


Kirby: Canvas Curse has loads of levels to crack and they are all quite varied, some more than others but all give something new to try. The majority include the classic floating platforms and secret passages but some levels take place in confined caves and caverns littered with deadly obstacles like spikes and electric blocks. Some aspects of the Gameplay will, no doubt, become annoying and you will be pulling hair out of your skull but it’s all in the fun. Like most games I’ve reviewed I’ve commented on how satisfying it is to accomplish a level but this is taking it to the extreme. I actually held my breathe towards the end of a rock hard level praying that this one bar of health would be enough to enter the Gate Of Glory, or “finish” as some people may say. While on the subject of levels, each World is split into three different levels. These levels are split up into three areas so, doing the maths, each World offers 9 areas to complete and once you have conquered the 9 levels the tenth level is a boss stage. The unique thing here is that you don’t get given a boss, you have to choose which one you would like to face and thanks to a nifty little touchable button beneath the bad guys portrait, it is possible to read on how to beat it. Helpful stuff eh?


Each area contains three red coins which are somewhat difficult to obtain but offer a good challenge and as the areas aren’t killing you for time, you have a lot of freedom to go rolling around looking for the well hidden (although there are few exceptions) red coins


Not only does Kirby roll around, he has a few neat tricks up his … um, sleeve? One cool thing that you can make him do is speed up. Yeah, I know, it doesn’t sound cool but it is when you need to reach high places or to smash multiple enemies with an explosive effect. The player has to draw a loop with the stylus and have Kirby travel the whole thing. While he’s rolling frantically around it, he begins to speed up and BOOM! He’s flying to the other side of next week. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be surprised at the length poor Kirby can travel and how you can begin to use this talent to destroy enemies also it is very satisfying when spectators gasp at your sheer brilliance of skill. Kirby sucks. He has the ability to suck enemies abilities in, which, as many of you know, is a well known trade mark of his and is put to good use in Canvas Curse. By tapping Kirby it prompts him to speed up and, if you hit an enemy while at high speed, you will stun them. Even better is if the enemy has a special ability and you stun him, you gain their power and your free to go on a killing rampage. You do have the option to discard it by pressing a little tab in the corner of the screen if you want a more powerful and effective attack, but getting hit once will result in loosing the power instantly which can be quite frustrating at times. Sharing the abilities with you would be unfair and would ruin the surprise so I’m going to keep my mouth shut but I will tell you that they are very impressive and add a new and welcoming twist to the already above standard and solid gameplay mechanics.


Graphics


Beautiful. In Kirby: Canvas Curse, the graphics really do help to portray the feel of the game, and each level. For instance you will see yourself leading Kirby through vibrant grassland areas then a few minutes later your dropped into a spooky graveyard-esque littered with more bad guys than the previous. These sudden changes in location produce a confused atmospheric feeling but resulting in a very interested player, which, believe me, is a challenging task. The use of colours are used superbly and create a very friendly vibe that you will absorb like a sponge with water. The colours are very bold and colourful which is also standard for a Kirby game and represents this without fail.


Enemies are a big let down this time around; the models for these enemy characters are not so pleasing as you will be meeting the same character over and over again throughout the whole of the game which is very poor indeed. As a next generation handheld I expected a bit more effort into the variation of the bad guys but it’s just not there. Although the enemies are pretty easy to fight and don’t require large amounts of skill, it seems like they have no brains whatsoever. C’mon Ninty, we wanted a little bit more variety and challenge!


Overall, the graphics are simple yet unique. The whole game gives off a artist’s creation feel with the many different varieties of levels to chug your way through. The enemies could have been more plentiful but they do offer nice killing sprees for you to grin at.


Sound

As always, to experience the true virtual surround of what the DS has to offer, you’ll need to plug in a set of headphones to really make the most of it. Otherwise, it’s pretty standard stuff with “colourful” tunes being delivered out of those speakers. Some of the tunes in some levels may irritate some people as, typical of Nintendo, they are happy and very cheerful… well it is a Kirby game after all. A nice touch that I saw/heard was when you draw rainbow lines across the screen, depending on where you draw them, the sound of the scribble is travelled to each of your ears which is very cool to hear. But, apart from that, there isn’t much to the sound department. It does the job and does it well.




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Gameplay – 9.5 / 10

Very different from the usual. Kirby has no feet, you have a stylus that draws paths for him. You do the maths.

Lifespan – 7.5 / 10

Collecting all of the red coins in ALL of the levels will take you ages but apart from that, that’s it. But when you defeat the bosses completely they are up in the main menu to have another ass whooping.

Sound – 8.5 / 10

May be a little too happy for some but it helps to bring the sense of classic “Kirby” to life. Crisp and very nice to listen to with headphones plugged in.

Graphics - 9 / 10

Very artistic with each level having it’s own style and feel to it. Some of the characters look a bit dodgy but when Kirby rolls, it looks as natural as ever.



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This game does live up to its expectations but some may find it a little difficult to get accustomed to. When you do, you’ll be in plat-forming heaven. The game is represented well and although the story is slightly unnecessary and very “child” orientated the game shines with its unique gameplay and Nintendo cheekiness which will put a well earned smile on anybodies face.