"Scribblenauts" is a puzzle action game developed by 5th Cell. In it, players use the touch screen to type in or write out the letters to make objects appear on the screen in order to get through the stages. I first had the chance to try this game at E3. The demo I played there was fun and got me very interested in this title. Does "Scribblenauts" hold up to the fun it was at E3 and revolutionize gaming on the DS? Or is it a complete over-hyped let down? The answer is somewhere in between.
Let's begin with the graphics. "Scribblenauts" has pretty much the same art style as 5th Cell’s previous two DS outings: "Drawn to Life" and "Locke’s Quest." Therefore Maxwell, the main character, and all of the other things you can summon all look like paper cutouts from a child's pop-up book. The animation is also fairly limited. If you summon a ninja and have it fight a cop, they don’t really fight so much as they just randomly bump into each other until one dies. This style works, though, even with its limitation, as the game’s main selling point isn’t in the graphics. It’s about what you can type and use.
The game’s levels are split into two sections: action and puzzle. Each has the main objective of obtaining the starite at the end of each level. The puzzle levels will require you to obtain the item by getting through a dilemma of sorts. For instance, in one level, the starite is stuck up in a tree out of your reach. So you could summon a ladder to climb up and get it or chop the tree down with an axe. For another example, another stage has the starite tied to a rope that rises up anytime you go near it. So you could use a jet pack to get up high enough, or cut the rope by throwing a bladed weapon of sorts. The action levels are straight forward, with objectives like protecting a royal family from assassins or racing the developers of the game to the finish line and the starite. The levels all give you a brief description or clue on how to progress at the start if you happen to be unsure of what the actual objective is. Unfortunately, these hints don’t tell you what you are not allowed to do. For instance, some levels won’t allow you to kill your enemies, but you won’t find this out until you’ve killed someone and get the "try again" screen flashed in your face.
Summoning objects is fairly simple. As mentioned before, you can type in or write the words down a letter at a time in order to summon whatever you might want to solve a level. However, it is recommended that you just type a word rather than write it, as at times the game has a hard time recognizing what you are trying to write. "Scribblenauts" seems to think all of my r’s are p’s. If you happen to misspell a word or if you typed in a word that does not exist in the game, the game’s dictionary will come up with suggestions for you. In another much appreciated time saving feature, the most recent words you have used can be recalled so you don’t have to waste time re-typing an item. For example, if you summon a shotgun and fire it enough times it will disappear, so you can recall the word to have it back immediately and fully loaded. The main start up screen is a demo level where you can mess around with the notebook and see what works and what doesn’t in the game. Players are bound to spend a great deal of time in this screen before tackling the actual levels. I once spent a good chunk of one of my playthroughs summoning moose onto the screen and then conjuring up items to go on a massive moose hunt. Needless to say it’s a fun way to play if you aren’t feeling up to tackling any of the puzzles yet.
While you can summon and interact with a seemingly endless amount of creatures, items and weapons, there are two faults that must be pointed out. For a minor one first, after you play through enough of the game, you will find that a lot of things are represented the same on screen, sort of taking away from the boundless creation aspect of the game. To point out a few, "God" and "Zeus" summon the same omnipotent old man. "Mutant" and "freak" summon the same green weirdo onto the playing field. This isn’t a huge deal as it doesn’t really take away from the main gameplay, though, just a minor nitpick.
Unfortunately, the next complaint is a slightly bigger one. No matter how much you try, no matter how much you strain your brain, you will find yourself summoning the same items over and over again. If there was a counter in the game for how many times I used wings or a jet pack to reach a higher plane, it would rival the shit counter on that one episode of "South Park." An almost game-breaking exploit was recently revealed online in which the combination of attaching handcuffs to the starite and then putting it into a vending machine made almost every level beatable in a snap. Thankfully, in order to curb cheapness such as this, the developers made it so that in order to fully beat a level, you must complete it three times in a row with different items in order to get the maximum points.
Now on to my main complaint with this game, which is the controls. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, in this game is controlled with the stylus. Writing down items is done with the stylus, moving Maxwell is done with the stylus, and using items is done with the stylus. The D-pad and the face buttons are all used to move the camera around your surroundings. This forced stylus domination over everything damn near ruins the game. To move items, you must point and drag them to where you need them. However, you’d best pray that you tap directly on that item. The game is very sensitive in item selection. If you are even the slightest bit off from the item, rather than picking that item up, the screen will register that you tapped on nothing and that will make Maxwell begin to move towards where you tapped. It doesn’t matter if you wanted him to move or not, he will blindly begin to move even if there are hazards in the way. I cannot count how many times he accidentally died or walked into an enemy, taking massive damage. For that matter, Maxwell has no health indicator, so you are left in the dark as to knowing how much longer he has to go before he kicks the proverbial bucket. It’s a real shame as Maxwell could have been controlled with the D-pad and the camera could have been controlled with the face buttons. But no, we get the bumbling blind doofus Maxwell idiotically walking into pissed off Cthulus or randomly walking into a pond filled with piranhas. Adding to the anger experienced from this is the soundtrack. In a word, it’s terrible. It’s a random splurge of drum snares, a horn, and some kids screaming “get the beat,” I think. So when you die and have to hear the song start all over again, it doesn’t do any favors for your blood pressure. I’d advise you to turn the music down.
If the game’s levels aren’t doing anything for you, then you also have the option to make your own levels in the editor mode. Here players can set up their own hazards and traps, even going so far as to edit other character emotions. I made a level where the only obstacle between Maxwell and the Starite was an angry elephant with a thirst for human blood. Perhaps someone else can be more creative than me when I’m lacking sleep. This is a great addition to the game, as it adds to the replay value if you’ve beaten all of the other missions or if you simply want a break from the main game’s frustrations.
Overall I'm really torn on this game. It has a wonderful premise in that you use what you want to solve a level rather than being stuck with one item. A lot of people will enjoy this game for seeing what wacky items and characters you can make pop out including internet memes such as "Long Cat" and "Rick Roll." But those who want to actually complete the game will find frustration in the games simple yet flawed controls. So I suppose if you don't take this game too seriously, as opposed to vying for a 100% completion rate, you'll be able to have fun.
