"One of the best games on the DS features a pink ball."

Introduction

Kirby always has been the odd bunch of games. Kirby's: Air Ride for Game cube, Kirby's: Nightmare in Dreamland for GBA, and yet they are all good. But Canvas Curse breaks new standards. This game actually deserves an 11 but it only goes up to ten but oh well. Read on.

Story
7/10

Not the best story but its okay. The story starts off having Kirby walking through his land when all of the sudden a witch appears out of nowhere and turns the whole land into a painting! Kirby goes and confronts her. The witch is to powerful for Kirby and she turns Kirby into and pink, round, ball as if he wasn't already pink. He loses his legs and arms so he can no longer walk or anything. After watching the witch run away he looks down. He sees a paintbrush! He touches is and then it transports to you! Now you're his only hope. Its up to you and Kirby to defeat the witch. Not the best story in the world but I guess it will do. Actually I heard way worse but.... that's a different story.
Graphics
10/10

I absolutely love the graphics! They look like everything in this game has been painted! Its 2D but if it was 3D it would not look right now would it? No it wouldn't. It looks just like should be. It's about the best on the DS.

Sound
8/10

Kirby games have always had exotic sounds and I think they are great. They are calm and refreshing. They don't always fit the mood though. They also have some “boi-ng” and “spring!” sounds, which can get annoying in about like 1 hour. Also it isn't as strong with the headphones as with other DS games. A lot of the enemy's sound effects are annoying to. This is by far the worst and only bad part of the game.

Control
9/10

The control is great. Basically all you do is guide Kirby with your stylus. But some times Kirby won't go the way you want him to go. You also do not use the control pad or the buttons for any thing except the start button. Which will probably be rare to use because you won't need for anything except quitting. It's comfortable to hold when you are sitting in a chair. Although it is not all that comfortable when your laying in a bed.

Game play
10/10

The game play is where the real fun starts. What you have to do is guide Kirby through 21 levels, which consists of 8 stages. Well the last stage has only 1 level and it's more of 1 mini level. Anyways you have to guide Kirby through the level you are on by protecting him all the way to the end of the level. You can also tap enemies with your stylus so you can roll into them to kill them. Or you can just tap Kirby to make him dash into enemy's to kill them instantly. You can also tap on things to destroy them. So basically if you get stuck, start tapping things and you might just find your way out. When you need speed you can make a loop sort of thing and you will get an extra boost of speed making you a lot more speedy for about 2 seconds. Its useful when you need to get to a higher distance such as a ledge which you have to get up a lot in this game. Most enemies' you will kill will give you a special ability but a lot are kind of useless to kill enemies except like spark, beam, or ice out of about 13. A lot of times there will be puzzles where you will have to push switch's in order to get to certain places which are easy but sometimes annoying because you have to go back and forth about 3 times before you can get to the end of that part of the level. There are also parts where the wall pushes you toward the end and you have to get out of some of the parts such as walls that will squish you and kill you instantly. During all of the levels the enemy's can also attack you. You only have 4 hit points unless you buy more health with medals but I will get to that later. The only thing that really gets me is no multi-player! This game would be a lot better with some decent multi-player. Like racing to the finish or something.

Playtime/ Re-playability
10/10

This game should take you 3 hours to beat it with Kirby and they're also 4 other characters to unlock. You can get medals within the levels and within rainbow run. Rainbow run is a mode where you can do a time challenge and another thing I wont say. At the end of each stage there will be 3 boss mini games. Beat them each 2 times and you can play them when whenever you want. If you get a good score, you will also get a medal. So this should last you about 30 hours to 100% percent

Final Recommendation

If you are a DS owner I really suggest that you get this game. You are really missing out if you don't. its one of those all time great games that you will not want to put down. Since the price is only $30 it really won't cost you much if you're comparing to PS2 or X-box or Game cube games. So if you are looking for a deep long and rally addicting game, this game is a must.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/11/05