Language is powerful. It is a way for us to communicate. It allows people to create worlds and take people places they have never seen before. This is present in this review: I created a space for you to learn about my experience. Scribblenauts for the DS comes downright close to doing just that in game form.
The story of Scribblenauts is simple. A young kid by the name of Maxwell is collecting items known as Starites. Why? I don’t know. Does there need to be a reason to do creative and fun things? Scribblenauts is a cute game. All of the characters (save for Max) look like paper cutouts, and you can see the tacks that hold the pieces together. Wherever the joint would be, that’s where there is a black brass tack (you know, they allow paper to move around). It’s bright and colorful and cheerful. No matter what happens, Max has a huge grin on his face. The same cheerfulness is true for the various environments — the cityscapes, lightly forested areas, icescape with icicles hanging from the ceilings of caves, dinosaurs and machines mixing without bias. It’s all about mixing and matching creativity.
How you get the Starite in each level is completely up to you. Yes, that chef wants some food. But what type of food? Do you create Italian, French, American, Mexican? How do you wake up the kid, get him downstairs and give him some breakfast so he can go to school? How do you cross the chasm that’s filled with water to rescue the baby lamb? Survive a prison strike without dying? Get past a tornado? Need to tie a few ropes together to something else? You can do that. It’s all up to you and how you think things through.
You might be wondering, “Up to me? How can this be?” Max carries around this “magic pad” that brings anything he writes into reality. You literally type in whatever you think will help you solve the situation. And you have to know your language well. There is no dictionary to help you. However, if you type in a homophone, it’ll ask you which one you want. The cool thing? Man can walk with God provided one is peaceful. If not, then the thunderbolts start flying.
The above is half of what makes Scribblenauts so difficult. The other half is the control scheme. Scribblenauts is completely controlled by the stylus while the control pad moves the camera. Where ever you place the stylus, Max will go there. Although it is responsive, it is not accurate. He’ll keep running into a wall when you want him to jump. He won’t always interact with items the way you want. Objects won’t lock on whenever they are on top of another. Characters may not go move or behave exactly as planned. It forces you to think creatively, to find new ways to interact with the game.
In fact, this has made it very difficult for me to play Scribblenauts. Throughout my life, I have thought of myself as a creative person. Scribblenauts has proven that I am not. Sometimes I have an idea in my head and I can’t execute it as perfectly as I thought. Depending on the situation, it might be because of the controls or the simple fact that the item I thought would work does not. Sometimes the game doesn’t acknowledge a specific solution, such as giving a firefighter a shiny red truck. I also probably rely a bit too much on the “wings” when it comes to jumping. It’s frustrating to go through the same level over and over again, trying to figure out how to solve a problem. Yes, it’s rewarding to conquer them. I wish the difficulty would be gentler.
Music wise, everything is in its proper place. Everything is pleasant to hear. The main music is downright perky and bouncy. The defeat sounds are, obviously, saddening. But it is more like, “Try again, guy. You’ll get it!” Various items have their own sounds, such as laser guns and pistols. Trampolines have a decent bounce to them. You may not hear many unique sounds, but it all works.
So is Scribblenauts worth your time despite all the frustration? Yes, it is worth seeing the creative way everything is pulled off. It isn’t perfect, but what game is? Scribblenauts is rough around the edges. This is an excellent game to introduce to a puzzle lover, provided you are willing to provide some help. It’s still at a premium price, but you do get about 200 puzzles to solve. Ultimately, go ahead and try it. Go scribble some thoughts down and see what problems you can solve.
