Kirby And The Rainbow Curse Review: Colorfully Sculpted Madness

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse Review
3.9
out of 5

Kirby has always been an anomaly to me. I’m familiar with the character and have played previous Kirby games, but I’ve never really taken to the pink ball like others have. It’s not that he’s not a great character with a solid cast of support and some unique gameplay elements, its just that I’ve never dedicated the time to him like I have, say Link, Samus, Pit and Mario. Because of this, I was looking forward to his newest game, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse on the Wii U, so I could finally give the little guy his due. The end result was fun and sometimes infuriating romp through the colors of the rainbow.

The in-game story begins with Kirby and a Waddle Dee out having a good time when the sky suddenly opens up and a dastardly villain named Claycia steals all of the color (life) out of the land. A flying paintbrush named Elline also slips through the portal and is able to restore color (life) to Kirby. Then she and the little pink ball go off to the land of Seventopia to restore the color back to Kirby’s land.


Kirby and the Rainbow Curse Review

Each “world” is represented by the seven colors of the rainbow, and has three levels and boss battle. Kirby and Elline collect stars, which gives Kirby a power up attack once he collects 100 stars, and developer Hal Laboratories has hidden five treasure chests in each level, along with other goodies to give completists something to shoot for by replaying levels over and over.

Along the way, Kirby gains the ability to transform into vehicles, like a tank, a submarine, and a rocket, to be used only in certain levels. Kirby’s infamous “sucking” ability is gone here, replaced with a roll attack and only a roll attack.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse Review

Kirby becomes a tank (pictured), and submarine, and a rocket in his adventure.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse creates a new way to play a console platformer. Players use the Wii U’s stylus to draw rainbows that Kirby uses to move, attack, and climb. The rub is that the rainbow is tied to an awfully short meter that runs out at the worst possible times, and its recharge takes longer than it probably should. In fact, everything is handled on the Wii U gamepad’s touch screen with the stylus.

The art direction for Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is taken from classic claymation. Everything in this world is “sculpted,” which looks amazing in action, and has more life than, say, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, which was released for the Nintendo Wii in 2010. The claymation theme never wavers, as even Kirby’s transformations are animated like he’s being sculpted from scratch. Smudges and even fingerprints can be seen on the character models (the game runs at full 1080p), giving it gravitas in the clay world that Hal Labs have created.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is not without problems. Controlling a ball with the stylus takes some precision, (imagine using a chopstick to move a ball bearing) and tapping Kirby to make him roll attack can be frustrating at times. Late in the game, a sky level dictates that Kirby essentially uses the rainbows or he falls to his death. The short rainbow meter drains fast and while there are refill pots, managing a “platform” to stay afloat, coupled with fighting myriad enemies AND searching for hidden items makes the level a maddening exercise in frustration.

And once Kirby gets rolling, he never really stops. This matters most when the player is trying to execute a precision move to attack or to get to a hidden area. I had problems here and cannot imagine what hell a clumsy child would go through on some of these levels

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse has a multiplayer element where other players can grab Wii remotes and join in as Waddle Dees. It’s drop in/out couch co-op multiplayer, but the addition of even more things on the tiny gamepad screen is a hindrance — or a curse — more than a bonus.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse Review

Players can collect statues, music tracks, and challenge levels, which gives Kirby and the Rainbow Curse some legs, which says a lot for a pink little ball. There is amiibo support with the Kirby, Meta Knight and King Dedede characters giving Kirby exclusive power ups to be used in-game.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse takes a unique control scheme to new heights and lengths and delivers a fun, gorgeous game that plays as good as it looks — until it doesn’t. The play control is sound but becomes frustrating in later levels, and though the boss battles are inspired and the Kirby-as-vehicles are the best, most fun levels in the game, they are few and far between. The game as a whole is the best and worst of the Wii U’s stylus-controlled sub genre, and for the most part, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse works as a fun — if not maddening — adventure for the little pink ball.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is available now for the Nintendo Wii U. This review was based off a copy of the game purchased at retail.

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