Scribblenauts was by far one of the most anticipated DS titles in recent memory. Lets face it, if you were not living under a video game rock, you knew about this game, and had heard the rumors that it held the potential to be one of the most innovative games of all time.
The basic idea behind Scribblenauts is that you can "Write anything, and solve everything." What does that mean? Well, the game consists of over 100 puzzles in which you must earn a "starite" which is a weird sparkle covered star like thingy. The catch of the game is that you can write (or type) anything into the game, and as long as it is a noun, not vulgar, and not copyrighted, it will appear in the game with its proper functionality! This means a black hole will suck up everything, a shark will eat a fish, a magnet will attract metal, etc.
Now, the above scenario would sure be impressive in a game, but also very difficult to pull off. So the question is, did the developers at 5th Cell succeed? Believe it or not, yes, they did. There is virtually everything in the game, and it all does what it would do in real life. It is quite incredible really, and I found myself with a massive smile on my face as I typed words that I thought would surely not be in the game yet they still appeared before me! Very cool. Even cooler are hidden items in the game such as Internet memes like "keyboard cat" etc. I have found countless items that are normally just found in popular culture. This game is very "hip" if I dare say.
So, does this game have a downside? Yup. A mighty one at that. The controls are horrid. Perhaps some of the worst I can recall in any video game ever. One flaw is that the camera returns to Maxwell, the main character, after a certain period of time. This really sucks, as at times you are focused elsewhere on the screen, summoning an item to do a task, when the camera whips back to Maxwell. One of two things happen here: 1: you tap the screen where the item you just summoned should have been. However, since the camera is moving back, you accidentally tap the screen on a blank spot of the map, causing Maxwell to run in this direction, usually resulting in him running straight into something that kills him. This forces you to restart the level. 2: You notice the camera moving before it is too late, and thus do not accidentally kill Maxwell. However, you find yourself constantly re-adjusting the camera, centering it on what you want to be giving attention to.
Granted, option two sounds less severe, but it sure is annoying. Also, option one can get extremley frustrating as some of the levels take a tremendous amount of time and planning out, and it really blows when all of your careful planning is ruined by a camera shift and you have to replay the level. It has been annoying enough that I have shut off the game for some time before returning only to be punished some more...
Also, it seems that Maxwell does not always do what you want him to. Sometimes, you tap something while holding a gun, in hopes that you will shoot it, as the games instructions say you will, but instead you go walking right up to it, usually getting attacked and dieing in the process. Also very annoying.
Lastly, I would like to mention the glitches in this game. There are alot of them. Some of them simply freeze your game, some of them just do weird things... really weird things. Try dropping a meteor on a T-Rex, see what happens. Not pretty.
The combination of the atrocious controls and extreme amount of glitches makes this game feel like it is in its alpha stage of development. The fact that you can summon everything imaginable, and it does what it should is incredible, and 5th Cell should be commended for this effort. However, this fantastic game element cannot succeed when the game itself is so bad. I was one of the fans that was stoked beyond belief for this game, so believe me when i say it pains me to admit that Scribblenauts really does need a lot of improvement. The fact that the summoning is so perfect, the character is adorable, and the music is fantastic however, mean I love this game. I really do. I have spent hours on the title screen summoning object after object after object. I have discovered some truly interesting things, and cant wait to discover more!!! Just because I enjoy this game does not mean I can not see its flaws though, and thus, though I will continue playing the game with much joy in my heart, I must give (a very generous) score to the Nintendo DS game
Scribblenauts: 6/10
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