by Karnage

Developers: 5th Cell
Publishers: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Price at the Time of the Review: $29.99

Scribblenauts is a game for the DS that may be the most ambitious game we see this year. It’s major selling point is that you can write(or enter on a keypad) any word, and it will become available to you on the screen. That is a BIG claim, but surprisingly, it delivers.

Story:

The story in Scribblenauts is next to nonexistent. Your name is Maxwell, and you’re a Scribblenaut. This means you have the ability to write something down on a notepad and bring it out into the world with you. You use these powers to collect starites, or star like objects that end the level in a similar fashion to Mario. Though there’s no overall story, many of the puzzle challenges have scenarios that give off the feel of bite sized episodes. Examples of this include giving candy to Trick-Or-Treaters or helping a baby tiger get back to it’s parents.

Gameplay:

The gameplay is split up into two major parts. There is the Puzzle Mode, which is where you have to fill out certain requirements in order for the starite to appear (see examples above.) I found these to be considerably easier than the second mode, which is called Action Mode. In this mode, all you have to do is get to the starite. That sounds very simple, but can be quite difficult. An early example of this mode includes the puzzle where there is a starite at the top of a tree. You can get to it anyway you can, from chainsaws to rocket launchers to bulldozers.

This brings up the meat of the game – making any object you want appear. Nothing I say in this review will really get across just how well it works, because you truly have to see it to believe it. I have summoned well over 200 objects and have only been told “no, that’s not in here” four or five times. Sometimes the same object will appear for two different words, such is the case with “spy” and “ninja” but it’s hard to really complain about. There are rules with the object summoning, such as no obscenities, copyrighted material or proper nouns. There’s a few workarounds though, such as a laser sword looking identical to a lightsaber. Even with these restrictions, it’s almost an entire game in itself trying to think up ways to stump the machine. I even typed in the local mystical beast – The Jersey Devil, and one vicious monster appeared on my screen (and massacred the nearby sheep herd.)

You summon an object by clicking on a notepad in the corner of the screen. There you are free to write a letter at a time until your word if visible or you can simply punch the whole thing in on a keypad. One of the few flaws I have discovered is that the game seems to have a lot of problems deciphering handwriting. This could really be just my terrible chicken scratch, but some letters, no matter how clear I wrote them, were never recognized. This is easily remedied by switching to the keypad, which is much faster anyway.

It is worth noting that not only will most objects appear, but they all have their own functions as well. People and animals will react to things differently, such as a “librarian” being afraid of a tiger and a “hunter” attacking it. You can also hook different objects together with glue, ropes, chains etc. This makes the possibilities endless.

The actual controls in the game are the near-fatal flaw. Everything is controlled with the touch pad, including Maxwell. If you’re trying to pick up something very small, and you miss, you just sent Maxwell running in that direction. Most of the time this isn’t too big of a problem, but it certainly can cause frustrating puzzles to become very irritating the fifth time around when you tried to grab a match and flung Maxwell off a cliff instead. It is worth pushing through this flaw though, as the rest of the brilliance of the game makes up for it.

If you manage to clear out all the Puzzle and Action Mode levels, fear not, you can go back for Advanced Mode. In this mode, you must complete the puzzle three times in a row without using any of the items you used previously for that puzzle. This makes even the simplest of tasks thought provoking. If you manage to complete this, you can go ahead and make your own levels. By choosing a current level’s template, you can insert any object anywhere, including where the starite goes and Maxwell’s starting spot. This is surprisingly simple to use, and I look forward to all of the user generated content in the future.

If you do all this, there is still replayability in the game. You earn Ollars, Scribblenauts’ currency, for doing certain things during a puzzle. Using a new item, no weapons, or a certain kind of object gives you extra Ollars. The biggest challenge, perhaps, is getting the starite under the “par” number of items used. The game tells you how many objects they think you need to solve it, and if you get underneath it you get a better score (and more Ollars.) What are Ollars spent on? Well, you need them to unlock all but one of the ten zones in the game (each with about 20 or so challenges, 10 of each kind.) They also have other uses, that I will mention in the next section.

Visuals and Audio:

The visuals for the game are simple and cutesy, but still varied enough to give almost every object it’s own identity. The bright colors really put a smile on my face and fit the lighthearted mood of the game perfectly.. The audio is good, with most objects sounding how they should, however you only start the game with one song, which is nice, but gets old very fast. This is where more Ollar use comes in. You can purchase new songs and more avatars to play as, such as a zombie, a DJ, a pirate etc. As far as the music goes, all of the songs are repetitive and will get on your nerves eventually, but are quite nice while novel.

Closing Thoughts:

I definitely have to mention the title screen, which is called the Playground. Here, Maxwell is invulnerable and you can spend time making anything you want happen. This is where you can live out all those Vs. fantasies, such as God vs. Zeus. This feature alone makes this the perfect “bathroom” game(short bursts of playing time.) With infinite replayability and nothing but your imagination holding you back, this game is fantastic. If Mario, Pokemon or Zelda doesn’t do the trick, Scribblenauts is THE reason to own a DS.

Full review post here