The pen is mightier than the sword but is a jet propelled T-Rex mightier than the pen?
Scribblenauts: The game where everything and anything will happen. Seriously. You want to see a flying nun try to fight a tiger in a nappy then you can, and I have and it is slightly disturbing yet compelling to watch. 20 seconds later a giant panda jumps out of a tree and starts throwing bananas at a gorilla, I did kind of get carried away I suppose but my imagination was running wild and with so many options at my disposal, I couldn‘t help myself !
For months the expanse of the Scribblenauts dictionary has hogged the limelight and it’s massive store of 10,000 objects (with the exception of nouns relating to sex, alcohol and swearwords) at your disposal has been racking the brains of DS fans throughout the land. Amazingly, too the creations behave appropriately ie a horse will eat a carrot but not a banana! and as well as accommodating the species the encyclopaedia also contains subspecies ie. Not only can you type “dog” but you can select a Labrador or Poodle.As fun as it is to glue a grenade to a baby and throw the baby at a group of penguins, 5th Cell have done something quite amazing and created a game with seemingly endless options which will have you playing for hours on end.
The levels in Scribblenauts are divided into two sections, adventuring and puzzle solving. The adventuring levels require you to reach the target starite (star shapes that represent your goals) by any means you can imagine.At the beginning of each level you are instructed as to what your goal will be and a quick tour and then, well, anything goes really – from guns to ropes to jetpacks as long as you can make it to the star. This makes every play through of a level a completely new experience and you can try any combination of objects to reach the star. As a parent I found it interesting watching the path, or method each of my children individually deployed and just how different each of their thought processes actually are and it really is amazing to think that no two people in the world will have the exact same experiences while playing Scrbblenauts. The slogan “Write anything, solve everything” applies. For instance what plants would you put into a garden to help a guy out? A rose,a daisy and then maybe a T-Rex. Just for a laugh maybe you plant a bomb too? It doesn’t matter what you try you can retry every time, which you probably will need whenever the T-Rex eats the gardener.
During gameplay you can earn Ollars, the in game currency when you complete a level and these will gain you access to more puzzles, or you can purchase new clothes or music tracks. You will also be awarded trophies or awards as well in Scribblenauts.You gain a platinum award every time you complete a level three times in a row without object repetition adding to the challenge of each level. So choosing a way to get the ugly duckling back to his brothers without hurting the cat between them the first time is simple. Just use a box. Second time is a bit harder. Tie balloons to the cat then use a fan to blow the cat away and put the duck on a skateboard possibly. Third time your brain is racing and you really are choosing the weirdest things to complete the level. Hmmm a bathtub with maybe helicopter blades and a propeller to transport the duck over the cat. Yea as you can see the game does get harder and more fun as you challenge yourself more.
Dragging a pig by a leash with roller blades on? Sure some might say this sounds a bit silly but when your actually playing it you realise this is what the developers were aiming for – for players to let their imagination run wild. This game is like a massive breath of fresh air and it feels like the birth of a whole new genre of game and the standard set is very,very high.
But, alas, the game is not faultless. The more you play as Maxwell and the more you try to move him about the more frustrated you become with the stylus. His movement is erratic and sometimes he will move about and do something stupid that could ruin your effort during that level. He manages alright when interacting with large objects like a ladder or a kangaroo but whenever you try to get him to interact with smaller objects or whenever your trying to join a rope, chain or something similar the control do get very, very frustrating. Maxwell isn’t as able at this sort of thing and it really does leave a bad aftertaste on an other wise spectacular game. Probably a d-pad control for Maxwell would have solved these issues and, in the later stages of the game, the camera becomes a tad frustrating but overall Scribblenauts is a great, great game.
The hugely ambitious nature of Scribblenauts really shines through and although there are some faults the possibilities are mouth watering for any gaming fan. All credit to 5th cell for a unique, mould breaking game and fully deserved of prestigious E3 2009 Game of Show award from several top media.
I give Scribblenauts 8.5/10
