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Scribblenauts Game Review

Scribblenauts is a 2009 puzzle video game developed by 5^th Cell for the Nintendo DS. It’s a flawed, but important first entry in this very unique franchise.

Back in 2009, Scribblenauts was extremely hyped up before its release, which definitely impacted it positively in terms of sales, but it did lead to some disappointing comments and reviews regarding its overall quality. Still, it is mostly a renowned game that for the most part manages to elevate its uneven execution through the sheer ingenuity of its basic concept.

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Most of the reviewers focused on the controls being the main negative aspect of the game to which I say that I agree, though I also have some other smaller issues that I am going to highlight later down the line. But first, let’s just say that the controls definitely do not fully work, though they aren’t as terrible as some critics would make you think.

I played the game on the Drastic emulator on my tablet, and overall the experience was a solid one. Still, controlling the protagonist Maxwell was better achieved in the game’s sequels as here he could be rather clumsy and inaccurate in his movements. The constant need for using both sets of pads for moving the character and the screen was also not the smartest choice for the control scheme, but ultimately I accustomed to them. The choice to at least touch an object and choose the action for Maxwell to operate onto it was a functional one.

There are 220 levels in total and they are grouped together into 10 worlds. You have to collect a Starite object to complete each level, and that star will appear after you finish the puzzle at hand. And this brings me to the most crucial and best element of the game, which is the summoning power. Unlike any other puzzle game out there, Scribblenauts featured an instantly classic, wholly original take on the genre by using words to solve puzzles.

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By perfectly utilizing the touchscreen part of the DS console, the game asks you to write a word onto that table that you then summon onto the screen to do its intended thing. For example, if you have to climb to a certain taller area to reach the Starite, you can type in ladder, put it into the level and then climb on it to successfully finish the level. It was and still remains a brilliant concept that worked wonders to make this game as enjoyable as it is.

The game includes thousands of possible words and you can imagine almost anything and it will be there, excluding of course trademarked brands, curse words and so on and so forth. The homonym system was also superbly incorporated to make things easier, but I would have preferred to type words instead of use the touchscreen as that made typing the words tediously prolonged at times.

But just the idea that you can summon anything you would want and it would behave in a way that’s expected of the object or being was an admirable quality that made Scribblenauts highly ambitious in its undertaking. They used a special software to achieve this lofty ambition and for the most part the results were immaculate.

The game is split into puzzle and action levels with each world containing around ten levels of both types. The action levels require side-scrolling platforming more in line with action-oriented platformers than puzzle games, which is why I preferred the regular puzzle levels that were more focused on, well, puzzle solving and word usage. The additional modes (including the editor one) and the shop were not all that interesting and the game is, thus, overly short. The lack of a storyline also made it simplistic, but still I would always take no story over a cringe-worthy one in my video games.

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The puzzles obviously range in quality from mediocre to downright excellent depending on the level. And now I have to talk about my main issue when it comes to the puzzles that most reviewers failed to bring up and that has to be the lack of variety and a system that is very easy to trick. I am of course talking about the couple of overpowered items that you have in your arsenal at all times with no limitations.

They should have thought of a way to bypass this, for example by limiting the amount of times you can use each powerful item. In my case, I abused those wings to no end as they flew me across most levels too easily. And of course once you realize that a black hole destroys everything in its path, then there is no use for other monsters or weapons anymore. It was a very troublesome omission that made the entire game too repetitious and easy to play.

Graphically, Scribblenauts is fine for what it is, which is this highly simplistic drawing-like style that resembled something a child would draw. Yes, it felt rough around the edges and cheap, but that childlike nature to these levels and designs made for a very endearing overall look that fit the tone of the game superbly. This puzzle game would most certainly be more appreciated by children than adults given that your level of imagination as a gamer would influence how you play it in a very palpable manner.

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The sound and score are both very good, energetic and memorable. The game is also not too short as it has an abundance of different worlds and levels, but most were too easy to beat, so ultimately the game ended up being an overly fleeting experience for me. The level design is mostly quite strong, though, and it incorporates most of its gameplay mechanics very successfully.