Scribblenauts Review for Nintendo DS
Innovative New Game Allows Players to Create Anything They Can Type
Oct 3, 2009
Scribblenauts forged a fanbase out of nothing based on its principle concept: whatever the player types using the in-game keyboard will take form on the screen. If the player typed the word "octopus", an octopus would appear out of thin air and begin interacting with the environment. The same goes for words like potato, yacht, or jackhammer. If the player was so inclined they could even summon God.
The idea that players were limited only to their imaginations may seem too good to be true, and is depending on how one uses their imagination. Almost any word typed, as long as it's a noun, will manifest the appropriate object. However, players will eventually run into a word that doesn't exist in Scribblenauts' database or will only conjure up an object somewhat similar to the one typed.
Of course, it is really quite incredible that the game knows as many words as it does, and the developer 5th Cell shouldn't be faulted for initially presenting the illusion that the game knows everything. In fact, the game's lexicon turns a sub-par action/puzzler title into one of the year's must-play games.
Starite, Star Bright
The game makes use of its extensive vocabulary by challenging the player, in the form of the game's hero Maxwell, via a series of stages separated into two categories: "action" and "puzzle." The goal of both is to obtain Scribblenauts' level-clearing trophy called "Starites", a stylistic and functional equivalent to the stars of the Super Mario games.
The "action" stages place Maxwell on one side of the screen and the Starite on the other. The player is then tasked to getting the Starite even if it means crossing lakes, fighting off robots, tunneling through the ground, or breaking out of prison. Each level presents the player with a scenario that they must overcome to gain their prize and clear the level using whatever words they can type up.
As the game allows the player to complete each level using numerous methods it becomes apparent that some words are much more useful than others. Many of the simpler obstacles each level throws at the player can be defeated with either the word "jetpack," which will allow Maxwell to soar over lava pits or walls, or "superhero" who makes quick work of whatever fodder the game throws at you.
"Puzzle" is the simpler mode of the two. Each level starts off with a demand like "feed the chef" and the player is required to type in a word that will accomplish the goal. The first twenty or so puzzle levels are painfully easily, requiring little more than the time it takes to type the riddle-solving world to complete. What makes this mode captivating is its more challenging puzzles, like one where the player is presented with a corpse and four people and must discover which one is the murderer.
Brainless Controls
The game's biggest flaw is that too much effort was spent on expanding the game's word list and not its shoddy controls. Players manipulate Maxwell and their summoned objects using the stylus. The player clicks on an area and Maxwell will move to that spot. Summon an object and the player can drag it and drop it almost anywhere within the boundaries of the level.
Unfortunately the stylus-based controls are overly sensitive. The average player of Scribblenauts can expect a misinterpreted tap on the screen to send Maxwell to his death. A common scenario would have the player lowering a raft onto a pirahna-infested pool of water.
The player attempts to drag the raft onto the water but instead the game instead sends Maxwell hurdling to his death, having Maxwell jump into the water at the spot the raft was supposed to be placed on.
The majority of the time these hiccups are only mildly frustrating, like causing a tower of boxes the player constructed to crumble or sending Maxwell off a cliff the player just spent the past few minutes climbing. But, depending on the level, its almost as likely that these "mistakes" will cause Maxwell to blow himself up with dynamite or be killed by a dinosaur.
Conclusion
Despite a few nagging flaws, Scribblenauts offers a completely unique experience not found in any other game. Most games where a player's avatar is hindered by, say, a crocodile the player would typically dispatch of it with a gun, sword, or other weapon. Scribblenauts is the only game where a player can type "crocodile hunter" a create a man decked out khaki shirt, shorts, panama hat, and wielding a machete.
There are moments in this game that have no comparison in other, more traditional titles. The game is as mundane or clever as the player.
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