Ah, the first 12 months of a brand new platform!

Every new first-party release has been hailed as the New Dawn of gameplay. Kirby Canvas Curse is the latest and the most well received DS title to date. (In my opinion, WarioWare: Touched is the more engaging game.) But that's what I mean about diminished standards. If Canvas Curse is your big triple-A game, you've got problems.

Is it a bad game? Not at all. It is an inventive combination of 2D platforming and quick-action stylus control with plenty of unlockables and a trio of completely different bonus games. But it is also entirely forgettable: filled with unusable power-ups, some downright frustrating levels, and an embarrassing stab at a storyline that I couldn't even call half-assed. As fun as it is while it lasts, it is not a game for the ages. Overall, the presentation is underwhelming, lacking the visual charm of Pac-Pix, the glib intensity of WarioWare, or the replay depth of Mario 64DS.

I also can't hear the title - Canvas Curse - without thinking it's some kind of menstruation euphemism. But that's probably just me.

The game begins with a scrolling text screen that explains the story, such as it is. The drama here is that Drawcia the Witch has cursed Dreamland and turned everything into her little art project... including freezing Dreamland's chief protector, Kirby, into the shape of a ball. As soon as she leaves, Kirby uncovers a magic paintbrush (largely unexplained) and gives it to you. It's awful. Nothing is more obnoxious than a video game limply attempting to break the fourth wall. "Only you can save us!" Pac-Pix did the same thing, unfortunately.

Not helping matters is storytime's background art. All still pictures, all heavily artsy-fartsy. Have you seen the box art? Did you know that's a paintbrush on the left hand side? That impressionist style is all over the game and it's very uneven. Sometimes the levels showcase really interesting designs and sometimes they just look like crap. Yes, it's a unique visual approach, but since there's no explanation for the varying artistic styles it comes off sloppy.

What we should have seen is a fully animated intro. We should see Kirby strolling through Dreamland when the witch blows into town. We should see the crazy-quilt colors coming from her wand. We should see her transform Kirby into a ball and the crestfallen faces of his helpless pals. I'd even take a 2D movie if it did a good job setting up the storyline, but an N64-type 3D open would have been great. I don't expect Shakespeare in a game of this type, but it would be terrific to not have my intelligence insulted with a bunch of ghastly stills and slowly scrolling text. (Across two screens, no less!)

It's a good stylus game. Instead of controlling Kirby directly via the usual d-pad, you draw little rainbow-colored slides for him to roll over. Kirby himself - stuck in a ball shape thanks to Drawcia's hex - is sort of a slow perpetual motion machine. He'll roll and bounce on his own, then speed up and zip across the paths you draw. Sort of a highly advanced Yoshi Touch 'N' Go. Unlike Yoshi, Kirby will pull a Samus Spider Ball trick and stick to whatever convoluted twist you create. If you draw a loop-de-loop, he will gain an extra speed burst, but I found most levels to cramped to adequately loop through.

There is a grace required for efficient and effective path creation, and that is the secret joy of Kirby Canvas Curse. You'll paint in a swish that gently steers Kirby in the opposite direction. You'll bounce him skyward through small slanted bunny hops. You'll guide him through obstacles with broad sweeping curves. It becomes a very elegant, personal experience; a good example of how a smart stylus game can achieve interactivity beyond the traditional d-pad. It does not take long to capture the necessary economy of line, since the rainbow inkwell is limited.

The usual Kirby baddie cast is everywhere, Waddle Dees and the like, so most of twitch action comes from you drawing slides and and stunning out enemies. If you tap an enemy, he becomes temporarily stunned, meaning Kirby can roll right through them for the kill.

Tapping Kirby activates his current ability, the default being a spin-dash. The dash move enables you to whack a baddie without having to stun him first. Other abilities are stolen by killing particular enemies, similar in result to his usual suck 'em up move. Many expected Kirby favorites are present in Canvas Curse: Wheelie, Missile, etc. Since the special moves necessarily replace the highly useful dash move, most of the moves have a built-in dashing effect. However, the special moves are, by and large, not well implemented. They get in the way of the simple dash that is almost always more effective. It's not at all unusual to dump the special abilities right away. You can't avoid obtaining them, but a simple click in the lower left corner drops them. In most cases, you'll only actively seek and use a special move because the level requires it.

With a crappy intro and mostly meaningless powers, all that we have left is the levels. And here, finally, is where Canvas Curse can strut its stuff. The early levels are all horizontal so you can get accustomed to the split-second timing of tapping bad guys and slashing out rainbow slides for Kirball. Then levels start getting vertical, so you have to figure out the best path to draw. Then levels start getting tricky, making you activate door switches or obtain specific power-ups to proceed.

Then levels start getting obnoxious... as Kirby is forced underwater. The water levels are a 180 degree switch from the normal boards. Kirby is bouyant, so now your paths have to force him to dive into the depths to move. These are easily the worst parts of the game, as water currents and the air bubble effect screw up even the most structurally sound plan.

The are seven worlds to explore, each annoyingly named after a color of the rainbow, like Reddy Land and Neo Greo. Each world has three levels and each level has three sections. So there's plenty to do even once you start avoiding the few water levels. Each section has a hidden red coin... well, hidden to the extent that it is brightly marked on your map but is often a pain to actually get to. The coins are stored in a bank and used to buy from an assortment of unlockables... like bonus levels, different ball types, and sound test music. To add replay value, each level can be played for speed and for least ink used, each with another set of hidden coins to collect. So that's nice, but I really don't find the unlockables all that compelling. Especially since you don't know what you're buying until you've bought it; all the unlockables are listed blind but for the price. However, I was pleased to note that the pre-level screens carefully indicate the coins you have already found, so it is easy to find the levels that you need to work on.

The boss fights help to elevate Canvas Curse's playability. There are four different boss confrontations, three of which can later be played outside of the main game (maybe one of the unlockables is the fourth, but I don't know and sort of doubt it since the fourth boss is the witch herself.) The final boss plays out using similar techniques as the rest of the game - draw paths to get Kirby to bounce into the witch when she's weak - but the other three are completely different in manner and control. Which says to me that somebody put in some much-appreciated extra effort.

Kracko's fight plays like Breakout/Arkanoid, with Kirby as the ball... you draw the bounce paddle. King Dedede challenges you to a mine car race where you have to drag up and down to direct the trajectory of Kirby's car. Paint Roller has you memorizing and re-drawing complicated connect-the-dots shapes. All three are a welcome break from the main game and provide exactly the kind of variety a game like this needs...