Kirby: Canvas Curse

"Kirby at his prime."

Intro: Kirby has been out almost as long as the famous plumber has. The human marshmallow has stared in many original games (i.e. Kirby's Tilt 'n Tumble), and this is one to add to the list. Let me explain why this game is one of the two games currently worth getting (next to Super Mario 64 DS).

Graphics: 10/10 These graphics show what the DS is truly capable of. They're amazing, and there is never a dot out of place. True; SM64DS's graphics might be a tad more impressive than this game's, that is also the way Kirby has been, and always will be.

Story: 10/10 There is an evil witch lurking about, and our inflating hero steps out to go show her how much crime pays. Well, Kirby was about to whack her one when the witch's magic brush activated and turned Kirby into a ball! Needless to say, the witch got away, when Kirby looked down and happened to see her magic paintbrush.....Truly genius. This is probably about my favorite story in any game.

Audio: 10/10 Awesome. Does any more need to be said? From Kirby getting blasted by electricity, to the enemies getting tapped by your stylus, audio for this game won't disappoint.

Controls: 8/10 The controls are a bit confusing at first, but eventually you get the hang of it. All you actually got to do is draw rainbow paths for Kirby to ride on, both to speed up, and to get a nice running jump. You can also do a few other things, like draw a wall for Kirby for him to rebound and go the other way. Also, since you are playing as a ball, you can't use Kirby's trademark move: suck. So you know how we fix this? We whack some sense into enemies with your stylus! No, really, that's what you do. First you hit the enemies with the stylus, then you let Kirby run right over them. You can also hit Kirby to make him speed up. Sometimes they make it impossible to make that super long jump that Kirby could easily just float over any other time, but usually the controls are forgiving.

Gameplay: 10/10 Juicy. Meaty. Perfect. It doesn't matter what word you like best, it's that. All you got to do is just get from point A to point B basically. Sound repetitive? Yes? You couldn't be more wrong. It isn't the fact that you got to go from A to B, it's the part in the middle that's the best. Let's take a look at that fire level. EVERYTHING is fire. You can't even touch the ground without roasting marshmallows. So you say, "Oh no! What do I do!?" Draw rainbows for Kirby! The levels take quite a long time to get through (levels are usually 3-7 minutes long), but it's so fun, you won't know that you've been playing one level for all that time. Then there are also medals. These are used to unlock other things. Don't think you're going to find one at every turn though. For quite a few of them you're going to have to go through the level a few times just to figure out where they are, and then you have to go through ANOTHER few times to finally get it! This game is so fun, some might not even notice it's greatest downfall.....

Replayability: 6/10 Ouch. Now, I know what you're thinking. "This guy's nuts! He gave everything else a 10, and he's only giving this a 6?!" Just....I don't know why. My urge to go get this game and play it again just isn't that great. Maybe it is repetitive. I don't know, but for some reason, there just isn't anything in this game calling me to go back to it. Trust me, however, I do play this game, I just think I should be playing it more, that's all.

Final Verdict: Buy Definitely. I know I only gave replayability a 6, but maybe you'll like it more. And like I said, I still play it. I just think maybe there should be more to it (yes, I'm talking to you Crystal Shards), like maybe instead of using a rainbow all the time, you could create your own colors. Now THAT would rock. I'm a big fan of messing around with stuff, so colors would easily beef the replayability. There is also a Time Attack, which is just like any other game. But instead of having to go through the whole level, you only have to go through a little bit of it. I, personally, like this, as the levels would be way to long to do a whole time attack. And lastly there is also a "Line" Attack. What you do here is, you go through a portion of a level, trying to use as less ink as possible. Some levels you can go through without using any ink (I have done that before), while others make you use up most, if not all of it (I have done that before too). Overall, you won't be disappointed with this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/29/05