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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.
This is seriously one of the best platformers I've ever played. Touchscreen a gimmick? Ha!
The system is in no way limited by either the two screens or touch functionality. Those actually make games like Kirby: Canvas Curse possible. Could you do the same on a PSP, GameCube, or any other system for that matter?
If you want to talk about things that limit the system, you'd be better to point out the lack of analog control stick, inability to play GB or GBC games, and other things it can't do.
Do you absolutely need both screens for every single game? No. Do you need touch functionality either? No. But they both have interesting applications that make games like Kirby's Canvas Curse possible.
The extra features that the DS has might not be vital to every single game, nor should they be, but that can provide additional functionality to games like a map or status screen that's easy accessible without requiring that the game be paused.
Sounds like Nintendo DS has reinvented Lemmings :)
I find laziness to be an excellent motivator.
The thing with the DS is that it is different from previous handhelds in so many ways (2 screens, touch screen, mic). It is farely hard to come up with a game that takes full advantage of even one of these features, let alone all 3.
:)
So far the only game I've seen that actually uses all 3 to any effect is Nintendogs, which I might add is highly amusing ^_^.
Another game that imho uses the 2 screens and the touch screen well is Another Code(Trace Memory). The cut sceens are played over both screens, so it's like watching 2 films at once, with the action flowing from one to the other. In the game itself the bottom screen shows a top-down view of the character and is used for navigation, while the top screen provides myst-like images of your current location. With the stylus being used in much the same way we'd use a mouse on a pc.
All-in-all with some of the games that are out and some of the games that will be coming out I can't really see how people can still call the DS a gimic... As far as I see it, the dual screen and the touch screen are here to stay. What I would like the DS2 to have though is a wide-screen top screen
There are already a couple of games out for the NES where you have to push the B button to make a character jump from one platform to another. Do we really need a version of this game with Icarus, a Bounty Hunter or the 7up-Spot? This is bound to get old soon!
There are already a couple of games out for the Xbox where you have to run around in a 3D world shooting at monsters. Do we really need a version of this game with Master Chief, a Bounty Hunter or that weird id guy? This is bound to get old soon!
Or maybe not.
I don't think the basic idea of using the stick to draw platforms is any more repetitive than using the B button to jump. I don't mind playing dozens of these games as long as they're as good as Kirby.
By the way, this is only the second DS game (after the Yoshi game) with this kind of gameplay.
You're making very general assumptions about a system that still has great potential. Overall everything you've stated in your post is quite general and can easily be applied to any console.
Comparing a DS to a Virtual Boy is completely off in so many ways. The two systems are barely in the same category. The virtualy boy didn't do well, because of its "red" screen, ( Which caused seizures for some peeps by the way. ) and the fact it was very awkward to play. The price was also a bit high at the time. The DS shares none of thes traits, and for larger hands like mine is a nice break from the cramped controls of other portables.
And pretty much any portable has been more succesfull than the VB. The DS just happens to be the top selling portable right now and its initial sells were even better than the SP. So it has proven very successful for Nintendo and continues to do well.
I don't agree with you at all about the Metroid comment. The stylus is the second best thing next to a mouse for a FPS in my opinion, and really makes these types of games enjoyable on a handheld and worth playing. I bought Golden Eye DS, a game I would "never" buy on any of the newer consoles, because I new it would have great controls, and I wasn't dissapointed. The game concept itself is nothing new, and one of the big reasons I'm so burned out on most console games. But the controls as mentioned, and the multiplayer are new for a portable game system. The DS added a spice of life to a genre I had given up on.
I'm perfectly fine with a second screen for stats, or interactive control, because it "works." The games I personally like can greatly benifiet from this type of setup; RPGs, strategies, adventures. And of course the games I'm so so on like FPS.
Anyways, I preorderd Nintendogs, a game concept that is not new, but has been well executed because of the DS's setup. So unless you can "innovate" a better portable game machine than a DS, I'll personally stick with Nintendo. They make games that I enjoy and consoles that are a fresh of breath air in this sea of the same.