Post by thegamerfan on Jul 16, 2005 18:23:47 GMT -5
Mario is usually Nintendo’s de facto delivery vector for innovation, but this time around it's letting Kirby do a little delivering of his own. Kirby Canvas Curse is the first game to truly capitalize on the stylus’ potential, offering a new gameplay style that is as fun as it is intuitive and graceful.
Paper-thin Narrative
An evil witch has turned Dreamland into a painting, turned Kirby into a ball and fled into a twisted, painted world of her own devising. Limbless and alone, Kirby discovers he can use the witch’s paintbrush to maneuver through her world and gives chase so that Dreamland may be restored. Yep, it's yet another lame, turned-into-a-painting storyline on the DS.
Flick of the Wrist
With the trite setup out of the way, Kirby Canvas Curse uses the stylus with the polish and panache most DS games have been lacking thus far. While the basic mechanics are similar to the lackluster Yoshi’s Touch and Go, the implementation is vastly improved.
Essentially a physics-based platformer, players freely guide Kirby along by drawing colorful lines on the screen. The lines impart force on our pink hero to move him along, but also serve as ramps, platforms, and barriers to not only keep Kirby moving but also to impede enemy attacks as well. It’s an empowering and flexible mechanic, and the player can only use so much of this magic paint at a time, requiring careful drawing.
Tapping the screen allows the player to stun enemies so that Kirby can defeat them, as well as give Kirby a speed boost, use a power he’s absorbed, or interact with cannons and other interactive doo-dads scattered around the environments. It starts off easy, but each of the game’s eight stages becomes progressively more difficult, requiring quick drawing, tapping, and careful use of your ink.
A Quick Doodle
Unless you’re the obsessive collector type, however, the game is a little short. There’s no shortage of levels, but the game’s zippy pace and intuitive charms make them go by quickly. There are collectible medals to find and minigames to play, but most won’t find these to be all that rewarding, as they unlock a variety of not-so-bonus bonuses. Also lacking are the boss stages, which come in three flavors. They make interesting minigames, but are a poor replacement for Kirby’s boss battles.
Art Critique
Kirby Canvas Curse could’ve used a little more time before being put on display, but remains a surprising and accessible game, and makes the best use of the DS’s stylus to date. While short, this is the best experience available on the DS right now, and anyone with a tolerance for candy-colored adventure should give it a try.
Tacking it home with a
4 out of 5
Paper-thin Narrative
An evil witch has turned Dreamland into a painting, turned Kirby into a ball and fled into a twisted, painted world of her own devising. Limbless and alone, Kirby discovers he can use the witch’s paintbrush to maneuver through her world and gives chase so that Dreamland may be restored. Yep, it's yet another lame, turned-into-a-painting storyline on the DS.
Flick of the Wrist
With the trite setup out of the way, Kirby Canvas Curse uses the stylus with the polish and panache most DS games have been lacking thus far. While the basic mechanics are similar to the lackluster Yoshi’s Touch and Go, the implementation is vastly improved.
Essentially a physics-based platformer, players freely guide Kirby along by drawing colorful lines on the screen. The lines impart force on our pink hero to move him along, but also serve as ramps, platforms, and barriers to not only keep Kirby moving but also to impede enemy attacks as well. It’s an empowering and flexible mechanic, and the player can only use so much of this magic paint at a time, requiring careful drawing.
Tapping the screen allows the player to stun enemies so that Kirby can defeat them, as well as give Kirby a speed boost, use a power he’s absorbed, or interact with cannons and other interactive doo-dads scattered around the environments. It starts off easy, but each of the game’s eight stages becomes progressively more difficult, requiring quick drawing, tapping, and careful use of your ink.
A Quick Doodle
Unless you’re the obsessive collector type, however, the game is a little short. There’s no shortage of levels, but the game’s zippy pace and intuitive charms make them go by quickly. There are collectible medals to find and minigames to play, but most won’t find these to be all that rewarding, as they unlock a variety of not-so-bonus bonuses. Also lacking are the boss stages, which come in three flavors. They make interesting minigames, but are a poor replacement for Kirby’s boss battles.
Art Critique
Kirby Canvas Curse could’ve used a little more time before being put on display, but remains a surprising and accessible game, and makes the best use of the DS’s stylus to date. While short, this is the best experience available on the DS right now, and anyone with a tolerance for candy-colored adventure should give it a try.
Tacking it home with a
4 out of 5