Kirby: Canvas Curse - A Curse Indeed

[Dracos]

So, in typical Kirby fanboyism, Kirby: Canvas Curse finally pushed me over the edge into picking up a DS and checking it out.  I take out the unit, fiddle with it a bit and nearly lose the game in my thumbnail because it is too small.  Have they finished miniturizing over in Japan so we could pick up doll people yet?

Anyhow, jokes aside, Canvas Curse is the latest kirby game and also is widely hailed to show off what the DS could do and how natural the whole stylus thing was.

Truthfully, I think they succeeded in that.

Unfortunately there was a victim to their success.  Kirby.

Kirby: Canvas Curse is a game that has both design problems and lacks heart and soul within it.  It is a simple fluffy endeavor that doesn't, in the end, feels more like work than playing a game.  You are not playing Kirby in it.  No, you are playing yourself, drawing onto this environment to tell a pink ball (Which we are told is kirby) which way to go.

First problem noticed with this at the start is that kirby loses pretty much any emoting he normally does.  His cute little facial and arm gestures are almost entirely vanished in compressing him to just a ball.  It is a subtle thing, but leaping directly from one of his earlier games to this made it fairly noticible.

The second problem was that it had the most unforgiving power system yet.  A single hit renders the power gone and unrecoverable with the enemy usually gone for good that you got it from.  Unlike most Kirbys previous where you could count on the necessary power being nearby, you'd occassionally have to backtrack through as much as the entire level (or retain a power up until the next stage) in order to collect the medals.  This really was just a downer for it.  Traveling around and using the powers was no longer a fun experience but a chore in protecting the power for a good length of time.

The game is short.  I had maybe four-five hours logged and that was over half the game.  Most of that time being spent unlocking extras.  If one wanted to hit through the main game, I would be wholly unsurprised to see one do it in four hours.  Now, a standard kirby game isn't terribly long but...  this was somewhat disappointing.

The bosses aren't really bosses here either.  Just minigames that you play twice to unlock the ability to play them anytime.  I suspect the final boss is different, but at this point it may be months until I care enough to find out.

Overall, the game gets more difficult to pick up each time it is put down.  What you see about three minutes worth in is pretty much the same thing you're doing five hours later.  Normal kirby games mix it up with the powers, but they never feel like they really belong in this one.  They feel awkward and out of place.  Just a puzzle solving tool and nothing more.

The sound, to be honest, doesn't really impress.  Nothing leaped out as particularly new and catchy.  They're okay, but nothing like the kirby food race theme from Superstar or Metaknight's theme.

Overall, this is something I recommend only to rent at most.  It just doesn't have staying power.  I can't see myself going back to this time and time again.  I can't see it being one of those games that really make things happen.  While the design works with the stylus well and feels natural, it also feels like work to me, protecting kirby instead of playing kirby.  Tapping enemies more than slicing them apart.

Dracos