Scribblenauts reviews

Rather than repeating the product description, I shall attempt to convince you to buy scribblenauts with this tale of woah!:

At E3 this year, among a goldmine of games such as Bungie's “Halo:ODST”, “Modern Warfare 2” and the revamped “Monkey Island” series, there stood a little known DS game made by 5th Cell Entertainment (the same guys that brought us “Drawn to Life” and “Locks Quest”).

Scribblenauts, (if you haven't already guessed the name of said game) went on to receive numerous acolades, including “Best handheld game”, “Best original game” and shockingly, “Best game in show.” To put this in perspective, in the 14 years since the first E3, the “Best in show” award has never been given to a handheld title.

I have to admit, at this point I was just as intrigued as I was skeptical. “A game that creates an object from any word in the English language?! What rot!” I exclaimed, in my best toffee accent.

As it turns out, my skepticism was soon to be replaced with a quiet optimism, when I learned that the developers had incorporated over 10, 000 objects into the game's dictionary, and that for six months a team of employees ( presumably the unruly, underpaid, entrance level programmers ) had scoured the dictionary, and sites like Wikipedia, to make sure that any nouns they could think up were put in the game.

They even have keyboard cat for Ra's sake!!!

Composes self

So, for those of you on the edge, I suggest pre-ordering this beasty. Even if it doesn't live up to the hype it has grossed, you have to hand it (and by it, I mean money) to the developers for trying such a radically original concept.

If you are like me and have a mind that tends to wander then you will love this game. If you want it then there is a good chance then you can summon it to help you get to that darn Star! Use jam to fill in holes if you like… I did!

What better use for you Nintendo DS than being able to do ANYTHING.
Thats right, Scribblenauts is a puzzle game which allows you to use any (non copyrighted) thing you can imagine to help Maxwell find the “starite”.
If the starite is in a tree, write the word “chainsaw” into you DS to chop it down. Or if you are in a blow stuff up mood, summon a bomb to blow the tree up.
If you are worried about your character (maxwell) looking strange, you can purchase new avatarsto replace him.
I use the Ninja.
Ofcourse with all great games come annoying controls.
The only way to move maxwell is by pressing you stylus to the touch screen, which means that sometimes when you are trying to place an item your character will run into lava or off a cliff.
That control scheme is honestly the only bad aspect of this game, and the fact that the game is only limited by your own imagination over-compensates for this drawback.
I myself am what some call a hardcore gamer, and I can safely say that Scribblenauts is right up there with Halo 3, Gears of War 2 and all other major game titles of our generation.
If you have a DS, you need this game more than you need Pokemon, now that is saying something.

This is an awesome game. The ways in which you can solve levels are truly mind boggling when you start playing it. I had 4 people crowding round each having their own way of doing the level.

Take the first level of getting the starite down from the tree i used an axe then chainsaw then a needle (took longer but works). After that you don't want to use the obvious way of completing the level…like tying balloons to a bath tub and floating up to catch a butterfly.

Only thing wrong is the controls are a bit strange when it comes to shooting weapons if you don't target something it might take a few taps for him to realize you want to just fire the weapon.

Great game and the main reason that games are good is longevity. If you haven't solved one level more than 5 times you really arn't trying hard enough

Rather fun to play its for all ages and good for kids who have creative minds or just have nothing else to do. I recommend this for eveyone of all ages.

This is an amazing game! It suits all ages, and it's great fun! I think everyone should give it a go!

Well this game is the bomb i'm 11 and this was my 3rd ds game and it is the BEST AND I MEAN IT!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:D :D :D

This is one of the best DS games out there. My entire family enjoys attempting different solutions and seeing who can come up with the best…… or the craziest. Beware though, it's completely addictive, and will leave you tossing and turning at night trying to figure out how to get the cow past the butcher!

I think Scribblenauts is an incredible concept – an ambitious undertaking on any gaming system. However, the execution here is plagued by issues; everything from rudimentary A.I. and poor collision detection, to physics that cause constant frustration within the game world.

Scribblenauts is kind of broken up into three main components. From the start screen, you can simply tinker with the notepad and environments, and it's a load of fun just seeing what you can summon and how those things behave. Then you've got a level editor, which is similar to the tools presented in March of the Minis. It's another great addition that also adds tons of value to the overall package.

Of course, the main attraction here is the puzzle worlds. There's plenty of content, and each world has both "Action” and "Puzzle” levels. The main difference? The action levels are more of the "starlite is here; now figure out how to get to it” variety, whereas the puzzle levels are all about summoning things into the world that will react with other things already present in order to reveal the starlite. It's a great formula, and the design for almost every level is really well thought out.

Where the game falters, however, is in how the physics behave. Objects might act naturally within the game world but not how you would expect each thing to behave in the real world. So, you might have an object that, if you sit and wait long enough, will start to roll on its own due to the actual physics of the game. This causes all sorts of problems when trying to be creative with the notepad, and it makes many of the levels more about luck than cleverness.

There are also quite a few problems with the controls themselves. When trying to get various objects to interact, or perhaps when attempting to command Maxwell, objects will flail or Maxwell will run off to his death. Poor collision detection matched with finicky controls make for a lot of unnecessary tedium and frustration. When you see a great puzzle but can't execute it properly due to technical issues, it's really disheartening.

The camera system, too, is a source of great contention throughout the whole of the game, since, for some unknown reason, the developer decided to force the camera to snap back to Maxwell (the main character) after just a few seconds. You'll never be able to sit and ponder a situation without having to continuously fiddle with the camera. It makes no sense. At least give us the option to turn the snap camera off. Objects such as the moon, sun and clouds all must stay aligned with the camera, so if you want to utilize them in tandem with other objects, you'll have to constantly move the camera back where you need it after it snaps back to Maxwell.

Don't be dismayed, though. As frustrating as I found the game to be, it's still every bit as innovative and charming as the hype has built it up to be. I've had many laugh-out-loud moments just fooling around in levels, and it's amazing what the game allows you to conjure up. There's also a ton of stuff to do here. The "ollar” system is a great way to incentivize the gameplay, and there are a lot of great unlockables. Still, you'll have to struggle through some amateurish design and programming to get at all that stuff, and in the end, it makes Scribblenauts a really good game but not a great one.

Visually, Scribblenauts has a wonderful look, and there has been a lot of love put into the sprite work. There's a nice variety of backgrounds, and though the physics present issues with gameplay, the animations are adorable. The music and sound effects are great fun as well, and there are many great, little, customization options that really boost the game's appeal.

As insignificant as my sole reader review may be in the sea of gamer reaction to Scribblenauts, I still gave a lot of thought to my score. I hope this isn't the last we'll see of this franchise on DS, even if this outing, in my opinion, misses the mark. I'm still in love with the idea behind the game, and I'm having some fun with it. But I think Scribblenauts would have fared better had there been a few, more-experienced game makers involved in its creation.