I’m not much of an artist. I can’t draw or paint or calligraphy well to save my life. Part of this is lack of practice. The other part is that I did not inherit my grandmother’s abilities. Don’t get me wrong, I love art — especially Matisse’s work due to his bold color choices and everyday feel of paintings. That’s the real joy of art to me: being able to create anything, to create connections where they were previously absent. In a way, Max & the Magic Marker fulfills that creative outlet.
Max & the Magic Marker is about a young kid, a kindergartner I assume, who loves to draw. In fact, he’s created hundreds of pictures. One day, he receives a marker in the mail. So he proceeds to draw pictures with it. Unfortunately, the first thing he drew was an eggplant monster that came to life and started to terrorize the drawings he created. To prevent it from coming into the real world and, of course, to set things right in his drawings, he drew himself to chase after the villain.
It may not be the best plot ever written, but it sets things up for an intriguing platformer. Scattered throughout each level are ideas, which are just collectable versions of Max’s thoughts. There are also little black dots that are placed in hard-to-reach and sometimes hard-to-find places. When you collect a certain amount of them, something is unlocked for future play. Where Max and the Magic Marker really shines is in its ink pots. They are needed to create the objects to reach those wonderful thoughts — and cross crazed chasms and reach unforeseen heights.
In fact, Max & the Magic Marker requires some fancy footwork. Sometimes you’ll have to jump up and create boxes under Max. Then you’ll have to erase your work so you can use the ink so Max can have something to land on in an odd cup manner. It’s crazy! There are times I can’t even figure out how to reach them. It doesn’t help that when an enemy hits him or you miss a jump that you’re sent to the last checkpoint.
Thankfully, this all controls very well. Max responds rather well to the controller’s input. Drawing stairs, lines, boxes and other such creations is intuitive but a tad difficult. I find that it is like drawing with a mouse. It’s tough when you first start \ because it is nothing like a pencil or a marker, but it slowly becomes easier.
However, things may not always go as planned. Using the teeter-totter as a method to fly upwards is an awesome idea, but it is too tricky to get it to work properly. I constantly found Max only flying a few feet (about a yard or so) in the air when 4 yards are necessary. The game is also picky how lines are drawn. Even when it visually appears perfect, the ink might go right back into the marker. It is frustrating to create bridges when it disappears on creation. It’s frustrating when I attempt things and they fall apart quickly.
Graphically, Max & the Magic Marker is downright adorable to stare at! This looks like a child’s inner world. This is what we all imagined growing up. Crazed neighborhoods with rivers and exploding fire hydrants. A pirate’s Caribbean dream filled with bonfires and palm trees. And then there is the factory level. It’s the craziest section of them all. It all moves smoothly. Everything is clearly laid out. It’s cute, and it works.
Max & the Magic Marker is a bit mixed as far as sounds go. All of the proper bells and whistles are in their proper places. Jumps, water, coloring and cranes all sound well-designed. Then there’s the music. While it sounds nice and pleasant, there’s not much variety to it. You’ll hear the same tune over and over again. I can almost swear that whenever you pause the game, the song changes to something else and quickly repeats. Then the main song restarts. And the Evil Eggplant’s malevolent laugh sounds too canned for my taste.
Overall, Max & the Magic Marker is a solid WiiWare game. This is something that most people will be able to complete with a bit of effort. It’s clever, creative and, at times, a bit frustrating. The coloring element is used to great effect, though I wish I could create more than just simple lines to traverse the levels. At the end of the day, Max & the Magic Marker is worth your 1000 Wii points ($10) if you need a strong platformer. Now I want my choice of a creative instrument to explore a world. Hey! That would be cool! Using instruments to fly across the screen. Go find out the promise of Max and his marker.
