"Kirby Canvas Curse is a very unique game with some great level designs, though it does have some small flaws."

Genre: N/A

Appeal: 9/10
Kirby Canvas Curse will appeal to people of many ages. Because of it's odd style. It wasn't aimed at any age group like some people may think. The early stages are easy enough for children to enjoy, and the later stages are hard enough to give even the most hard core gamers a challenge. If you enjoy level based side scrollers you will more than likely fall in love with this game. People who don't like to think on there toe's might not take to it to well (because it is very fast paced). Also, people who only enjoy sport games might not care for this Kirby title. And people who play all kinds of genre's should enjoy Kirby Canvas Curse.

Story Line: 6/10
The game begins with scrolling text that explains the story. One day, kirby was walking through Dream Land, when suddenly, a witch appears and warps the color of the land. Quickly the witch retreats into a strange portal in the sky, and kirby (being the spastic ball of pink he is) chases the witch. But as soon as he arrives, the witch turns everything into a painting, and turns carboy into a ball (i.e. removes Kirby's legs and arms) and runs, kirby watches, un able to do anything. Then kirby see's the witch's wand, and touches it (don't know how he did that though) and the magic wand / paintbrush, flys to "you. And now you must use your wand / magic brush to move kirby through the land. Thats all the story you will get until way later in the game.

Gameplay: 10/10
Kirby Canvas Curse is one of the most unique and original games ever. To control Kirby, you can: 'touch' kirby to make him dash, draw a rainbow that kirby will be propelled along. And smack bad guys to stun them. This may be easy to explain, but it provides hundreds of entierly unique challenges that will give you hours of fun. One level you might be stuck in a maze like world with lava for walls, meaning you can't let kirby hit the walls, ceilings, or floors. Other times, you might be under water, this makes you want to be floating up, so you must draw rainbows (lines) to force kirby down. At some points in the game you will run into areas that instantly destroy you lines, meaning the only control you will have is the ability to dash and stun enemies. Then you might end up being forced to hop from one platform to another. Sometimes, they will make it were you can only draw lines in small areas, so you will need to draw ramps again and again to keep kirby from falling to his death. And sometimes you will need to draw a shield to protect kirby Each level will present it's own interesting challenge. Also, they included a few 'sub games'. One will make you connect the dots nearly perfectly within a time limit. Another, you are in a flying cart, and must move it up and down with your stylus. Others will make you touch kirby again and again making him dash faster and faster down a long stretch, then at the very end of it, you must draw a ramp and try to make kirby jump as far as possible. The massive variety of things you must do and ways to do it make Kirby Canvas Curse one of the most innovative games in years. They even though in powers that kirby can get, such as the ability to turn into a rock, a ball of spikes, the power to become a ball of fire and dash through enemies with blazing speed. The power to let off a spinning laser, or even let off a shield of freezing air. There are plenty of power kirby can get, and they also help to add on the the challenges you will face.

Entertainment: 9/10
Though the challenges are endless the entertainment isn't. The unique game play and huge supply of abilities will provide hours and hours of entertainment. However, the game can get boring if you play for too long in one sitting. Though when you come back to play more, it will be fun again, it makes the game bad for long trips. Kirby Canvas Curse is perfect for making you forget the world around you. It's also a great break from the typical video game.

Graphics: 10/10
Kirby Canvas Curse has graphics that are has original and weird as it's game play. The areas are brightly colored, to the point that they look like they are really there. The enemies are goofy and the powers you get are brilliantly done. When you become a missile, and hit something, you let off smoke that leaps from the screen. And the fire and heat effects are great. Even the rainbow you draw is beautiful. But the best part is the dazzling backgrounds. In the game, the background are supposed to be paintings. But they aren't all normal paintings. Most of them are more similar to 'modern art' than a normal painting. Some of them look like a cartoon, some like water colors. The best way to describe some of the brightly colored, bizarre backgrounds is that they look like fireworks / Technicolor. Some of the areas even have an utter lack of color. Kirby Canvas Curse may not be realistic in the least bit, but it is the vivid colors are bizarre backgrounds that make it have some of the best graphics to date.

Sound effects / Music: 9/10
As far as a cartoonish side scroller goes Kirby Canvas Curse has very very well done sound effects. The sound is very very clear and has an interesting sound to it. All of the sound is typical, fire makes a 'poosh', the ice has that 'tinking' kind of sound to it, and the dying enemies make an expected 'bonk' or 'boing'. But everything that should make sound does. The music on the other hand, is very very 'silly'. And can become annoying at times. The music is something you would expect from a SNES game. It's not bad, but it's not something that you would ever go out of your way to listen to. Luckily though, there is a huge variety of different songs that will play through out the game. Also, they play songs at fitting times, unlike some games that play happy music during a serious boss fight. Also, they included some classic Kirby themes. The overall music and sound effects land at a level that is far above average.

Replay Value: 7/10
Once you start playing you wont want to stop. The unique game play and massive levels mean you'll be hooked for days. The game does become boring after playing for about an hour in a row, but then it regains it's entertainment with great speed. Beating the game will also take several hours (it took me about four and a half hours, but when I died I turned the game off). But, once you complete the long task of clearing the game, most of the fun is gone. The only thing that will make you want to come back is for 'medals', these allow you to buy special features, such as a new types of lines, new looks for Kirby, and things that boost your max health. After you beat the game, you might come back and play for around three hours.

Overview: 9/10
Kirby Canvas Curse is one of the most unique and original games in years. It has innovative game play and controls, the areas are beautiful and stunning. And the music and sound effects do not lack in the least bit. Over time the game will loose it's fun. But that will take many many hours. Though the game can be hard to play in the car, it's still one of the best portable games out there. The only flaw, is that once you clear the game, there is next to nothing that will call you back for more. Overall Kirby Canvas Curse is one of the best (if not the best) game currently out for the DS. It's nearly worthy of a ten, but it doesn't have enough extras to get such a high grade. I give it a nine out of ten.

Rent or Buy?
If you played and liked once at a friends or in a store, buy, if not, you might want to rent it. You can beat it in less than five days.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/05