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Review: Kirby Canvas Curse
- Title: Kirby Canvas Curse
- Developer: HAL Labs
- Publisher: Nintendo
- System: DS
- Reviewer: Zonk
- Score: 9/10
When the DS was first released in November of last year, the initial game releases didn't quite grasp the essential nature of the console. Sure, Touch the Magic XX/XY let you reach out and touch people, and WarioWare Touched was an entertaining way to interact more with the odd mini-games, but nothing stood out as ground-shakingly new. Games released on the handheld since then have been mostly ports from older systems, some relatively competent and some teeth grindingly bad. This decision on Nintendo's part has diluted the enthusiasm that fans of the dual-screen idea initially possessed and squandered their launch momentum.
Thankfully, the vision that Nintendo has for the DS is beginning to become clearer. The release of Nintendogs in Japan has been a cultural phenomenon, spurring sales of the handheld to new levels and putting Nintendo's console well ahead of Sony's offering. Electroplankton and a slate of games with touch interaction are planned for release throughout the rest of the year, and are once again getting people excited about idea of two screens.
Kirby is the first title on the DS released in the states to really capture the essential different-ness of the handheld console. Kirby's normal bouncy, wind sucking adventures are brought to a halt by a witch that curses Dreamland with a powerful incantation. Colors are drained away and the realms of Dreamland are warped into art pieces full of monsters. Kirby gives chase to the witch as she flees, but to add insult to injury she transforms the already rotund little guy into a limbless ball.
That's where you come in. Kirby rolls along through the different levels, and via the stylus you assist him in giving the witch her comeuppance. By poking enemies with the stylus, you stun them and allow Kirby to safely knock them off the map. By poking Kirby you can make him execute a dash maneuver, which takes out Kirby's foes and causes him to speed along through the level. Like other Kirby games, the gelatinous blob of a hero absorbs the powers of the creatures he defeats. By knocking out enemies, he can gain fire powers, or ice powers, or the ability to turn into a rock. Powers are activated by poking him, and replace his normal dash attack. One power even allows him to inflate like a balloon, and additional pokes pump him up further and send him flying higher and higher.
This intuitive control scheme is extended through a clever continuation of the game's art theme. By drawing with the stylus, you can create lines of paint on the canvas world. They serve many purposes, allowing Kirby to avoid obstacles and projectiles and enabling you to change his path of travel. Like a velcro-surfaced ping pong ball, Kirby follows your trails exactly to avoid opponents and dive into the depths of watery levels. With all the poking and the drawing, the DS allows for a somewhat unique experience. While this idea was first implimented in Yoshi Touch & Go, the inking system's use here is so much more intuitive as to be a new way of play. Instead of manipulating Kirby directly you control the world around him to ensure your success.
And an interesting world it is. Every level in Canvas Curse is broken up into three areas, which are further subdivided into three maps. You'll tackle nine discrete maps before you've mastered a level, with a boss battle capping off the level's challenges. The maps begin with relatively simple plains and tunnels, and eventually see you working your way through lava filled volcanoes, watery seascapes, and high-tech factories. In each map you'll have three objectives, all of which are simple to grasp. Foremost, you want to keep Kirby alive. He can take a few hits (initially four) before his little ball body pops, but there are flashing pick-me-ups scattered throughout the game to recharge your energy. Secondly, you'll want to gather stars. Stars are strewn about every map and are an easy way of making sure that you're going in the right direction. The stars are just the dreamland version of coins or rupees, and in the grand platforming tradition 100 stars equals a 1up. Your tertiary objective on every map is to find the hidden Medal. There is one secreted away in each map, and collecting medals allows you to use the Dreamland version of the slot machine.
Unlike your Vegas experience, though, Dreamland slots pay up. The "Medal Swap" selection from the main menu allows you to trade in your medals for stuff. While your initial booty (new music tracks in the sound test option) will make you question the need to collect these things, pressing on nets you some neat stuff. New colors for your ink trails are fun extras (including a zebra striped one I really like), and eventually your Medal search makes gameplay easier. Enough Medals turned in and Kirby can survive more hits.
While you can find one Medal in every map in the main game, defeating a level allows you to take on the maps you just cleared in the "Rainbow Run". The Run is where you'll be able to earn most of your Medals. When you choose an area in the level, you'll be presented with the option to do a time trial or a line trial. The two trials each use a map from the area you've chosen, meaning that in the Rainbow Run you can work through six of the nine original maps you defeated. The time trial is just that, a challenge to make it through the map as quickly as possible. Line trial requires you to work through the map using as little ink as possible. For both the ink and time trial there are is a first, second, and third place goal. By besting the first place goal on either of the trials you earn three medals, one for each goal surpassed. Each defeated level can therefore offer up 18 Medals in total if you best both trials in all three areas.
The challenge of defeating a level is not complete, though, until you've faced a boss battle. The boss battles, like the rest of the game, show off the unique gameplay possible on the DS in a fun and interesting way. In one game, Kirby rolls along through a tube while a skeazy sketch artist races ahead of you drawing Kirby-related shapes. In order to catch up with and defeat the skater you have to sketch out the shapes he drew, and quickly. Another boss battle is a form of Arkanoid, with Kirby climbing ever upward through destroyable block areas being bounced around by paddles you draw with the stylus. A third is a frenetic mining cart race against an angry penguin, where you use the stylus to direct Kirby's path of travel. To make him go faster, you make him plow into food. As one does.
The boss battles sum up everything that is great about Kirby Canvas Curse. The intuitive use of the stylus to manipulate the little pink puffball's environment is a wonderfully logical progression from the usual platforming schtick. The fast pace of the gameplay and the beauty of the environments ensure that the main game doesn't get old. Canvas Curse is the perfect handheld gaming concept. Discrete areas and the "hold" that the DS places on the game when you close the lid means you can pick up and put down the game with absolutely no regrets. If you want a quick fix and aren't currently in the middle of a main game area, you can work through a Rainbow Run map and earn some Medals for new ink patterns or main game loot. No matter how you're playing the game you'll appreciate the quirky enemies and the well done music. It's as simple as this: If you have a DS you need to try out Canvas Curse. This game is the reason you bought the system.
Kirby:CC is an amazing platformer. The end boss was one of the most satisfying I've played in years, and the entire game is just a blast to sit around and play with. I can just sit and play the time-trial tire levels over and over, simply because it's like a freeform version of Sonic. Great stuff, all around.
Kirby is a small, pink, round ball-shaped character with large feet and small arms....Kirby
Looks very fun indeed.
I have to admit i was sceptical on the whole DS thing until a freind let me try out this game on it. Needless to say i can see why this handheld is outselling the PSP. This game is just FUN. Pure and simple.
On the one hand it's simple and easy to jump in and out of, perfect for a handheld system. On the other hand it an be a much more complex experience, it all depends on how much time you have to put into it.
There's a similar game like this with yoshi and baby mario from the snes yohsi's island game. I hear it's pretty good as well.
Well, so far, the DS has outsold the PSP two-to-one.
And it seems to have a killer lineup, with Metroid Prime Hunters, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Age of Empires 2, Nintendogs, Viewtiful Joe DS, Tony Hawk DS (online and cel-shaded), Animal Crossing DS (online), Mario Kart DS (online), MMBN DS, Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, a new 2D Mario Platformer, Mario & Luigi 2, Sonic Rush, and Need For Speed Most Wanted all coming this fall...
Throw in 25 online games in development, as well as big franchises such as Katamari Damacy (yes, KD is coming to DS), Baten Kaitos, Xenosaga, Dynasty Warriors, Pokemon (ick), Zelda, etc, all coming to the DS...
The DS is not going to die anytime soon.
In fact, Nintendo is even catering to bookworms and pedophiles with this game about a touchscreen dictionary...
See, they called it, "Touch Dic".
http://www.touchdic.co.kr/
Well said. Aside from the SNES, NES and Neo Geo emulators my PSP sits in its cradle most of the time. I haven't bought a game for the PSP in ages, there's been nothing good released in ages (as evidenced by the high sales of UMD movies). I think the PSP might see a big boost in sales when GTA:LCS comes out though.
One other area the DS comes out on top over the PSP for me is how quickly you can play a game. The PSP has long loading times and big gaps between save points. There's no way to have a quick five minute game without spending half of it watching loading screens. Sure the PSP has its sleep function but as soon as you finish a level or move to a new area it has to load from the disc again. The DS is much better at offering small chunks of game that can be played quickly but that also stand up to an extended gaming session.
If you "beat the game", and by that I mean finish every level and defeat every boss including the final boss, the game gets even better afterwards because you unlock a new way to play through each level again. Collecting all the medals was definitely not meant to be done the first time through and indeed impossible to do the first time through.
When you play it through again, with all your drawing skills in hand, its really a different experience, especially with the bonus unlocked.
Additionally, something I haven't seen mentioned in too many places, try drawing a loop for kirby to roll through and kirby will get a boost from it!
...unfortunately no one can be told what The Mat^H^H^HGoatse is...they must experience it for themselves...
Especially considering that they released a hack to let you run DS Homebrew, INCLUDING DSLinux, using the GBA Movie Player you linked to, just this week.