Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

Scribblenauts

1. Official Site
2. Platform: DS
3. Publisher: Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment
4. Developer: 5TH Cell
5. Release Date: 10/15/09
6. Genre: Puzzle

by Mitch Youngblood

The Internet is a harsh mistress. It giveth, it taketh away and rarely does one know which way it will go (aside from the ardent fanaticism regarding Firefly.) My first experience with Scribblenauts, a game where the point is to complete tasks and achieve a star by summoning anything you can think of, was watching YouTube videos of God squaring off against Cthulhu. There may also have been a skateboard involved. My jaw hit the floor when I realized I would soon play a game where the only limit was my imagination.

Once I played said game, however, I discovered with horror that my imagination ran dry after two hours. I summoned a jet pack to fly across a river. I whipped out a submarine to dive for fish in order to sate a hungry penguin. I, of course, dropped the gates of Heaven in front of me, knocked on the doors, and out popped God to say hello. I even conjured The Nothing just to see what would happen, and my brain melted from too much geek. Then to test it again, I just wrote “nothing” and the results were the same. Disappointment began to set in.

I handed the game over to My Fair Lady, who took it for a spin lasting all of three levels before declaring, “I’m just not getting this.” When asked what she felt was wrong about it, she confessed to having difficulty with the controls as well as how the game “just seemed too weird.” I played through the rest of it to see if my similar feelings would dissipate, yet they never did.

I doubt there has been a game this uniquely odd since Katamari Damacy, the last title this reviewer played where the puzzles were less the point than the bizarre nature of the game itself. It is difficult to genuinely comprehend the oddity that is Scribblenauts unless you play it. At the very least, there is literally nothing else like it on store shelves at the moment. Gamers bent on solely playing original titles over the latest “Madden” retread can hold their heads high as they exit Gamestop with Scribblenauts in their bag.

Unfortunately, they may not see the game through to the end because eventually they’ll stop completing the puzzles and opt for a different game, “Stump the Database.” Scribblenauts has a lengthy litany of objects to summon, and there is a great deal of fun in simply seeing all there is to see. Taking out an infestation of rats with a machinegun, Cthulhu, or a chainsaw is fun by itself. But what happens if you try a freeze ray? Or a tractor beam? Or a lasso? Or a samurai?

Scribblenauts is essentially a giant rabbit hole, and once you go down it, it is difficult to stop. But this winds up becoming the game itself, rather than the completion of the puzzles. This does a disservice to the puzzles because some of them are rather intriguing. Certain puzzles require gentle massaging of the environment, while others insist that no weapons be used at all. Some levels are more action-oriented, while others are as simple as busting open a piñata for a child’s party.

The controls especially seem wonky. Tap on the screen to move the main character (Max) and he’ll do so… and continue to do so even after you try to stop him. He’ll blithely wander to the right or the left and then when you tap on him… he jumps. Okay… Another minor annoyance is in trying to control those beings you summon. One is left with the impression that Cthulhu doesn’t seem to like to be micromanaged, but it would help if the Great Old One™ would at least go after the dang tree I want him to take down. Or pick up a lumberjack and use him as a saw. Now that would be worth paying to see. But this is endemic to the majority of beings you summon. One could argue that they have free will and do as they please. Apparently “free will” equals lazy because if they’re not instinctively violent A-types, then they stand about. Want a trashman to pick up that garbage? Have at it. But you’ll have summoned him during one of his union breaks, because he’s not gonna pick up that trash. You are.

So what’s the point of having this available? Is it just to be able to say that it’s available?

If you want the difficulty kicked up a notch, there is a challenge mode where you are not allowed to use the same item twice. This will have you reaching for a thesaurus to see what else would achieve the same result as a lumberjack. But once you have plumbed the nether regions of your own imagination, and even that of your child(ren), you may find yourself asking if that’s all there is. Regrettably, the answer is yes. The result is a recitation of the saying, “there’s just not much there there.”

In an attempt to extend the game’s life, players also have the option to create their own levels. My attempts met with varying degrees of success or disaster, depending on how you looked at them, but this failed to add a layer of fun missing from the primary game. It seemed instead as a means by which to extend the life span of a game already running low on reasons to play it.

I find it depressing that as an adult I don’t so much see the imagination invested in this game. Rather, playing Scribblenauts is akin to playing an Excel spreadsheet with a GUI as designed by Salvador Dali. The graphics are strange to say the least as characters and objects are exaggerated squiggly figures set in a surprisingly monotonous world. Each level may have different objects, but the backgrounds are not very interesting. It all appears very bland, even with the interactions of unique summons. A naga has little problem turning you and everything else into stone, but the uniqueness of the play doesn’t rely on the setting at all. The backgrounds and setting come across as more of an afterthought, which is odd. They fail to compliment the puzzles, which is something one would expect with a game like this.

The music tends to be repetitive, annoying little ditties. But if this is what floats your (insert item here) then you’ll be please to know that the “Ollars” you earn per level completion can be used to purchase more tracks. A game like this would probably kill on the iPhone though, especially if it allowed you to play your music through iTunes.

And now that I say it out loud, so to speak, that’s what drives me nuts about Scribblenauts. It has the depth of a mobile phone application, which is to say not much at all. Tapping on the screen and summoning items to solve a quick puzzle would be a great way to kill five minutes before a meeting. But investing any more than that would be a waste of time.

The major disappointment factor here must be a lack of imagination on my part. It must be. Surely when I look about the house and start tapping in random objects like sofa or hearth, something awesome is bound to happen. Yet, when something awesome fails to materialize and all the player is left with is a living room suite surrounding a tree with a star on top, a light will go on upstairs signifying that your money would have been better spent elsewhere.

Ultimately, Scribblenauts is a novelty but little more than that. It has a great “gee whiz!” factor at the start that dissipates over a short amount of time. Adults will see a giant spreadsheet. Kids will be able to enjoy the illusion, but not for very long. It is a game that’s long on possibilities, but amazingly short on staying power. It feels like it’s a mile wide and an inch deep.

Gaming Trend Score

67

1. Graphics: 78
2. Audio: 65
3. Controls: 60
4. Gameplay: 70
5. Value/Replay: 60
6. OVERALL:67