"This game is pretty good, until you beat it."

Kirby: Canvas Curse. This game uses an interesting control scheme and unlike most games Nintendo makes for DS, the controls are actually comfortable and easy to use. This is a fun game, but once you beat it, there is not much more to do.

Graphics: 8/10
The graphics are amazing. The backgrounds are vivid, detailed, and colorful.
One level in particular is visually stunning, there is a lava level, the lava is realistic and bright, and there is fire and a purplish smoke in the background which makes the entire level look great. The characters and enemies look the same as they do in other Kirby games, but thats not a bad thing. There are some places in the games where the graphics could be better, but it is not that bad. One odd thing about this game is that if you don't hold your DS at the right angle, all of the colors will look weird.

Audio: 7/10
The sound effects are fairly basic, they are the same as other Kirby games. There is one sound that gets annoying very fast, the sound you hear when you run out of ink, but everything else is fine. The music is lively and catchy in levels, then it gets more intense during boss fights. You can even buy some of the music with medals ( I'll explain the medals later)

Control: 6/10
The controls in this game are creative. Your stylus is a magic pen, that is used to draw paths for Kirby to roll on. The Stylus is also used to stun enemies, just poke them with the stylus and Kirby can kill them just by simply rolling into them. The only problem is that this makes the special abilities in this game completely useless, why go through the work of using a power ( they are hard to aim since Kirby is always moving while you try to use them) when you can just poke the enemy? The controls during boss fight also use touch control, you have to use your stylus to connect the dots, draw a path for a race car, or to create bumpers that propel Kirby into the air.

Story: 3/10
The story isn't so great. A witch pulls Kirby and friends into a painting and takes away their arms and legs (WTF?) so that he can't move and therefore, cannot stop her. Kirby then finds a magic brush ( I Thought he couldn't move?). The brush is actually your stylus, and now you must use it to help Kirby roll through different paintings and stop the witch.

Gameplay: 6/10
The gameplay is decent. You roll through the levels just like in any other side-scroller, except you control Kirby in a different way. The problems are that the copy abilities, which have always been Kirby's way of fighting, are now utterly useless since just a poke with a stick will stop an enemy. the other problem is that you run out of ink far to quickly, and it doesn't recharge fast enough. sometimes, this problem will send you to your doom in a bottomless pit, other times it will stop you from landing on the right platform and force you to start a puzzle all over again. sometimes Kirby doesn't even roll on your lines the way you wanted him to and then you waste your ink trying to get him back on track. There are no bosses in this game, when you complete an area, you choose one of three mini-games to play, if you win, you continue, the problem is that its the same three games over and over again, so it gets boring after you play each one once. At the end of each level, you play a game where you tap Kirby to make him roll quickly and then at the end of the path, you must draw a ramp with the tiny amount of ink your given. the goal of this game is to make Kirby jump as far as you can and if you go far enough, you are rewarded with an extra life or two.

Replay value:2/10
Once you beat the main game, you can play the mini-games again (But you will have had enough of them by the time you play through the main game, so you won't want to play them again) or you can replay levels and search for medals. These medals can be used to buy music ( yawn), different colored ink ( yawn), or other characters to play the game as. While you may think playing the game again as a different character would be fun, its just boring. The characters can't use copy abilities ( like that even matters) and they only have one attack, the almighty poke, ok, two of them have a slash attack(WOW!). The extra characters are just different skins for Kirby.

Overall: 5

Buy or rent: Rent
If you can rent this or borrow it from a friend, do it, you can do everything there is to do in this game and then give it back to your friend, this way, you get the entire Kirby: Canvas Curse experience and you don't have to waste 30+ dollars on it! This game is worth a try, but it's not worth the money.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/19/06