Scribblenauts
Limited by your imagination... and logic
Posted September 27, 2009
Scribblenauts is one of those games that seem to last forever and always offers new challenges to players. For those that don’t know, Scribblenauts is a 2D puzzle game that almost plays like a side scrolling action game – think Little Big Planet but for the DS. It shares a similar art style to Drawn to Life, but that’s to be expected since both games were developed by 5th Cell. The gameplay in Scribblenauts is one of the most original in recent times, and limited only to your imagination. Drawn to Life dabbled in this trend by giving you the ability to create your own in-game character but limited you from actually changing the environment. In Scribblenauts, there is no such limit and the game allows you to create almost any object that you want by just writing it out. For instance, if you want a ladder, simply type or write “ladder” and it’ll appear in the game to use and move around as you please. So how fun is a game that lets you do almost anything you want? Read on to find out.
Gameplay
In Scribblenauts, you are in control of a character named Maxwell and the ultimate goal in every level is to collect a star shaped object called a Starite. These Starites can sometimes be in plain view but be hard to reach or sometimes can only be attained once certain actions have been accomplished. What he does with these Starites, I’ll leave up to you but phase three is most certainly profit. The core game is split up into 10 different zones with 11 puzzle levels and 11 action levels. The puzzle levels usually require you to complete a task in order to receive the Starite and the action levels often put the Starite somewhere hard to reach. Of course there are always numerous ways to complete these puzzles and the game does encourage you to find multiple solutions. Of course, there are several things that aren’t allowed because they would make the game simply too easy, such as teleporters. Use one and you’ll quickly find Maxwell stuck in a cell.
At the beginning of the game you only have access to one zone, but by completing the puzzles you get “Ollars”. Ollars are the in-game currency that is used buy new costumes for Maxwell, new songs, and most importantly new zones. Each puzzle that you play can have a number of ways to solve them, though the game encourages you to take a minimalistic approach by using a par system similar to golf and every item that you create counts as 1 par. So if a level has a par of 5 your ultimate goal is to reach the Starite using the least amount of items possible. So even though it is fun, creating a Rube Goldberg machine is not to your advantage. To place an object, you simply have to write it out and then choose where to place it in the level and can be deleted if you decide that it was a bad idea or extraneous. However, even though objects can be deleted, deleted objects still count as an item and will affect your pa count.
On paper, controlling Maxwell seems to be a simple matter of pointing which direction you want him to move, but unfortunately it doesn’t work quite so well in practice. The stylus controls can be very inaccurate and at times you’ll find Maxwell moving somewhere when in fact you wanted to do something else (such as placing an object). Oftentimes, this is pretty harmless and you just have to move him again, but occasionally this problem can lead Maxwell into a death trap and cause you to restart a level. In one level that I played, there was a pool of water with a vicious piranha and unfortunately I fell into it quite a few times while trying to place a bridge over the water.
Graphics
The hand drawn art of Scribblenauts is cutesy, bright, and works with the strengths of the DS though nothing particularly novel. The character animations in Scribblenauts are very similar to Drawn to Life’s style and present characters as if they are being moved by a hidden puppeteer. Both screens are used though most of the time you’ll be using the touchscreen. The game uses the touchscreen quite well and whenever you move an object around with a stylus, the game is able to perfect keep track of the item with no visual lag.
Sound
Similar to the graphics, the sound in Scribblenauts fits the game’s style and mood without standing out too much. There are a few different songs to be unlocked in the game, but they’re mostly just upbeat tunes that all really start sounding the same after awhile. What’s amazing though is the fact that there are so many different and unique sound effects associated with the multitude of objects that can be created.
Conclusion
Simply one of the best puzzle games to ever grace a handheld and a must get for any puzzle game fan, and the sheer amount of different solutions each puzzle can have will keep you playing for a very long time. There’s also a level editor that lets you customize any level already previously completed to make it harder or easier.
Gameplay
In Scribblenauts, you are in control of a character named Maxwell and the ultimate goal in every level is to collect a star shaped object called a Starite. These Starites can sometimes be in plain view but be hard to reach or sometimes can only be attained once certain actions have been accomplished. What he does with these Starites, I’ll leave up to you but phase three is most certainly profit. The core game is split up into 10 different zones with 11 puzzle levels and 11 action levels. The puzzle levels usually require you to complete a task in order to receive the Starite and the action levels often put the Starite somewhere hard to reach. Of course there are always numerous ways to complete these puzzles and the game does encourage you to find multiple solutions. Of course, there are several things that aren’t allowed because they would make the game simply too easy, such as teleporters. Use one and you’ll quickly find Maxwell stuck in a cell.
At the beginning of the game you only have access to one zone, but by completing the puzzles you get “Ollars”. Ollars are the in-game currency that is used buy new costumes for Maxwell, new songs, and most importantly new zones. Each puzzle that you play can have a number of ways to solve them, though the game encourages you to take a minimalistic approach by using a par system similar to golf and every item that you create counts as 1 par. So if a level has a par of 5 your ultimate goal is to reach the Starite using the least amount of items possible. So even though it is fun, creating a Rube Goldberg machine is not to your advantage. To place an object, you simply have to write it out and then choose where to place it in the level and can be deleted if you decide that it was a bad idea or extraneous. However, even though objects can be deleted, deleted objects still count as an item and will affect your pa count.
On paper, controlling Maxwell seems to be a simple matter of pointing which direction you want him to move, but unfortunately it doesn’t work quite so well in practice. The stylus controls can be very inaccurate and at times you’ll find Maxwell moving somewhere when in fact you wanted to do something else (such as placing an object). Oftentimes, this is pretty harmless and you just have to move him again, but occasionally this problem can lead Maxwell into a death trap and cause you to restart a level. In one level that I played, there was a pool of water with a vicious piranha and unfortunately I fell into it quite a few times while trying to place a bridge over the water.
Graphics
The hand drawn art of Scribblenauts is cutesy, bright, and works with the strengths of the DS though nothing particularly novel. The character animations in Scribblenauts are very similar to Drawn to Life’s style and present characters as if they are being moved by a hidden puppeteer. Both screens are used though most of the time you’ll be using the touchscreen. The game uses the touchscreen quite well and whenever you move an object around with a stylus, the game is able to perfect keep track of the item with no visual lag.
Sound
Similar to the graphics, the sound in Scribblenauts fits the game’s style and mood without standing out too much. There are a few different songs to be unlocked in the game, but they’re mostly just upbeat tunes that all really start sounding the same after awhile. What’s amazing though is the fact that there are so many different and unique sound effects associated with the multitude of objects that can be created.
Conclusion
Simply one of the best puzzle games to ever grace a handheld and a must get for any puzzle game fan, and the sheer amount of different solutions each puzzle can have will keep you playing for a very long time. There’s also a level editor that lets you customize any level already previously completed to make it harder or easier.