Kirby and the Rainbow Curse's biggest strength (and weakness) is the GamePad
Kirby, Kirby, Kirby, I made you out of clay
Nintendo sure came out guns blazing when it came to stylistic games at this year's E3. Not content to settle with a crocheted Yoshi, it also unveiled Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, a Wii U sequel to Kirby's Canvas Curse on the DS. In it, the pink puffball has his powers of sucking removed--instead, he simply rolls around when tapped. While that might be a downgrade in terms of powers (seriously, thats like a Wolverine to Jubilee drop-off), it works well thanks to the game's other gimmick: the ability to paint into the world.
Tapping on Kirby causes him to gain speed, but you'll need to paint lines (which show up as rainbow strands of yarn) on the touch screen to get him to do anything more. Draw a loop and he'll gain speed, flying through it like Sonic the Hedgehog--or you can just draw a few lines to have him grab coins. You're basically painting platforms for Kirby to stick to, making for a wholly unique gaming experience that takes advantage of the GamePad. The only big negative is that you're going to spend pretty much the entire game staring at the GamePad--it's too hard to look at the TV and draw, since precision is key.
It looks super good, too, so looking at it on the smaller, slightly compressed screen is a bummer. It has a Claymation aesthetic that's absolutely entrancing; Kirby himself looks formed by hand, and the enemies and environments all look like they're made of Play-Doh. Nintendo might not be able to match next-gen horsepower, but what it lacks in polycount it's going to make up with whimsy.
Check out the following screenshots for additional info!
Kirby looks super cute in clay form.
And here he is in Tank form, apparently. Still cute!
Managing Kirby's speed is crucial to success.
In fact, Rainbow Curse plays like a Sonic game at times--the sense of speed is pretty good.
Now that REALLY looks like a Sonic game.
If you don't find these graphics delightful, you may be clinically depressed.
Try not to think too hard about the whole "clay in water" thing.
Thwomp 2.0?!
Hollander Cooper was the Lead Features Editor of GamesRadar+ between 2011 and 2014. After that lengthy stint managing GR's editorial calendar he moved behind the curtain and into the video game industry itself, working as social media manager for EA and as a communications lead at Riot Games. Hollander is currently stationed at Apple as an organic social lead for the App Store and Apple Arcade.