Review: Scribblenauts (DS)

Puzzlers, Reviews — By Caleb Cox on September 22, 2009 at 6:30 pm

Scribblenauts is not a good game.

The controls are absolutely maddening. All movement is controlled by the touch screen, and that wouldn’t be so bad if every other action in the game (save moving the camera) weren’t also controlled by the very same tiny surface. You combine these controls with a physics system that would most accurately be described as “zany,” and you find your little jumpy man, frantically hopping around until he inevitably nose dives into the pool of lava you were just trying to build a damn bridge over.

But then, you were a fool for trying to use a bridge. They never work. Next time, go with wings and a rope. You can solve almost every puzzle with wings and a rope. In fact, of the thousands of words in Scribblenauts‘ dictionary, you will only need about five or six for you basic utilitarian purposes. Sure, some of the other puzzles will ask you kindergarten-level pseudo-riddles like, “What kind of animal lives at a farm?” Maybe you’ll squeal with glee before typing, “cow.” But that’s about all you’ll really need from the dictionary.

Then there’s the disappointment you will face every time something doesn’t act the way you imagined it would. Why can’t I use this grappling hook to climb up the cliff? Why won’t this mole burrow underground? Why is it impossible to use this poison? Sadly, all of those thousands of Scribblenauts vocabulary words do not come programmed to fulfill every possible function. You cannot shoot a cat out of a canon. You cannot put a suit on a gorilla and turn him into a gentleman. A stupid haircut will not turn a vampire into a sissy. The game just won’t do that much.

So, like I said, Scribblenauts is not a good game. Ah, but here’s the rub. It can be, when held to proper expectations, a truly fantastic toy. It is just like the board game, Mouse Trap. Forget about playing the game; just play with the game. Forget the puzzles and just screw around on the home screen, where you have full access to the whole dictionary and none of the arbitrary goals except the ones you come up with yourself. Maybe futz with the level editor and reprogram a horse to trample a baby. I know it’s not much, but it is fun, and at least the interface for summoning objects is nearly perfect.

There’s a lot to say about Scribblenauts‘ faults. It was an ambitious project, and like most really ambitious projects, it fell a little short. It isn’t uncommon for hype to swallow up the final project. Remember Fable? How about Spore? Actually, here’s a good rule of thumb. If the thought ever occurs to you, weeks before a game’s release date, “Wow, it’s like you can do anything in this game!” rest assured, you cannot.

However, no other game comes to mind which lets you ride a time machine to the future, open a portal that summons a mutant from another dimension, then use the Necronomicon to turn all of your enemies into skeleton warriors. Then you put on a top hat and call forth Cthulhu. There is fun to be had with Scribblenauts.

The graphics are cartoony and cute. At times, an object might be tilted at a certain angle, and the lines that make it up will become ugly and jagged, but it really isn’t a big enough problem to turn anyone away. You wouldn’t be playing this game for the graphics anyway. The sound effects are suitably adorable, too. The music walks that thin line between energetically happy and maddeningly repetitive. Luckily, it comes out on the good side, and contributes to the fun atmosphere.

Ultimately, I’d say the product is good, but not great. The puzzle parts of the game are boring, but I’ve got to give props to the first game since Fallout 2 that will let me chainsaw a child to death. Yes, buy it. It is original, interesting, and bound to offer quality entertainment when taken in small doses.

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Tags: 2D, ds, nintendo ds, puzzle, scribblenauts, video game, videogame