3/5 ★ – fez219's review of Kirby: Canvas Curse.

I'm a little sad because Canvas Curse is much less fun as an adult. The core gimmick of the game is at least super cool! I was enthralled with drawing as a control scheme as a kid, and that aspect of the game is still impressive today. Drawing and tapping to move is really fun when the levels are well-designed around it (which is a decent chunk of the time). Canvas Curse also has a great presentation, with multiple different painting aesthetics, and the music doesn't disappoint. I do wish there were a few more types of level — certain aesthetics did get old by the end of the game when they were reused multiple times — but what's here all looks great. Where the game fell short for me was its level design. I'd say about half the time it effectively uses the drawing mechanic in clever ways, a quarter of the time it's boring, and a quarter of the time it's extremely frustrating. I think Canvas Curse is at its best when you have room to maneuver, yet are forced to think about the line for more than mobility, such as to also draw shields and stun enemies. Where it's basic platforming just done with lines instead of buttons, it's just boring. Worse, on some later levels, it feels like the camera is too zoomed in to react in time to certain threats and you're forced to eat damage to get through a level unless you've already memorized it. Or it forces you through narrow passages of spikes that the controls just aren't exacting enough for. Sometimes getting a medal in an area with a moving camera will almost certainly also lead to you getting crushed by the screen (instant death). These sorts of punishing decisions in a game with intentionally less control than usual on the character can make the game agonizing. Copy abilities are also more of a mixed bag than the average Kirby game. Some, like the balloon feel like they handicap you by making you too fast or unpredictable to effectively control. These offer little in the way of mobility and combat benefits and can actively make levels more difficult — which is unfortunate when some collectibles are arbitrarily locked behind blocks that only a certain ability can get through. I occasionally found myself getting an ability just to save for blocks later and actively avoiding use of it, slowly inching towards the goal. This just isn't fun. That said, wheel and missile are a blast. Kirby games are usually rich in bosses. I was disappointed that this wasn't the case here. The main "bosses" here are minigames; there's three different types, and you do each minigame multiple times. Unfortunately, I didn't really love any of the minigames. The final boss is an actual fight as Kirby with the controls from the rest of the game, and is excellent. I'd much rather have had more fights like that than the gimmicky and often frustrating minigames. There's quite a few collectibles in the form of medals that unlock extras. You unlock three new characters at the end of the game and there's time and ink trials to do as well. Each level has some trials, and there's extra ability specific trials you can unlock as well that are in new locations. These were some of the most fun levels, with well-designed courses clearly built on maximizing a specific ability. So there's plenty to do. I collected a good chunk of the medals and did most of the trials as I progressed, but I lost my motivation when it came to repeating levels to find remaining medals or beat them as other characters. Overall, Canvas Curse is really fun quite a bit of the time, yet is too often frustrating or boring. I give it credit for doing something different from other platformers and at least being unique, though. It's worth a try just to see Nintendo fiddle around with what it really means to even be a platformer.