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Computer Times
Editors' Choice DS Game Scribblenauts Reviewed by Angie Kibiloski
Scribblenauts (Retail $29.99) is an awesomely unique Nintendo DS game from Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment. It is an arcade/puzzle game that lets you be in almost total control of how you solve each level of play. I have never played a game like this with such freedom of choice and action. Basically, you are a little dude named Maxwell, plopped down in an environment, like a park, a bank, or a city street. Somewhere in the level is a star symbol, or Starite, which you must find and collect. You have to type in words of things you might need to use to collect the Starite. The game recognizes the word as an object and places it into the world with Maxwell. You can then make him interact with it and grab the Starite. What makes this so very cool is the vast catalog of things you can create. I tried to stump the game with imaginative things, and was really surprised that, for the most part, it gave me what I asked for. You will have hours upon hours of fun finding new and unique ways to solve each level. The amount of replay potential is almost infinite. If you can imagine it, you can probably make it happen.
There are two types of levels: puzzle and action. In the puzzle levels, you are given a problem that you must solve. For instance, you might find yourself standing in front of Santa, and you will be asked to give him something he likes. You could make a cookie to hand him, or a jingle bell, a sack of toys, etc. One puzzle level I found particularly fun was the birthday party where I was asked to help the birthday boy break open his piñata. I got creative with this one, and must have played it over again a couple dozen times. I created and used such things as a machete, sword, flame thrower, cross bow, and stealth bomber on the poor little piñata. The last turned out to be a bit of an overkill…but it was really awesome! The action levels require a bit more of a mental workout, often to overcome deadly circumstances. You have to navigate through the environment in pursuit of the Starite. For instance, one level I found rather tricky and dangerous was inside a museum, where I had to figure out how to steal the Starite without hurting either of the security guards who were guarding it, and who were both quite willing to kill me. After trying everything from tear gas to an invisibility cloak (yep, it actually gave that to me), I finally managed to beat the level with a pair of wings and a lasso. There are sure to be other ways I could complete this challenge, I just need to be creative and discover them. For each of these two types of level, there are 10 different environments to play in, with 11 levels in each environment. In addition, you can unlock 30 more bonus levels. And if that wasn’t enough, you can create your own levels in the Level Editor, to play with yourself or share with your friends over the Wi-Fi connection. The main game menu is even a sort of level in itself, The Menu screen when you first power on the game can be used as a “free play” or “sandbox” area. Here Maxwell is invincible, so you can experiment with various objects here before trying them in the game. You can create and use anything you like here, set in any of the backgrounds that you have unlocked. You can spend hours just playing around without the focused objective of the structured levels.
The Starite you collect in each level has a purpose besides signaling your triumph over that level. The Starite, as well as other factors like how quickly you completed your task, how many objects you used to do it, and what sort of objects you used, translates to Ollars, the currency in this game. For instance, if you finish a level having used less objects than the “Par,” the recommended number, then you get more Ollars than if you exceed this amount. You can use these Ollars to purchase new songs for the background music or new avatars to play with instead of Maxwell. You also need Ollars to purchase and unlock all 10 environments to play in. As well as Ollars, you will also earn Merits when you complete a level. These are awards you get for completing a level by using, or not using, certain types of words/objects. For instance, there is a Merit for completing a level without using any weapons, and one for writing a completely new word. You won’t know what you can get a Merit for until you actually get it, so they are always a surprise. I could never say enough great things about this game. Playing it is like giving your imagination a chance to run completely wild. Sometimes you can solve a level with the simplest and most mundane objects, but the real challenge is to resist the easy route and find cool and creative ways to reach your goal. Need to move a rock from one place to another? You could push it along with a bulldozer, or pull it with a lasso, but why not pick it up with the magnetic beam of a UFO? See a thirsty man in the desert? Sure, you could give him water, but wouldn’t he love a smoothie or an iced tea instead? The sky is the limit with Scribblenauts! Seriously, if it exists, it is probably in this game. I think the programmers must have just sat down with a dictionary and drawn every word they found. You will enjoy hours and hours of trying to come up with new things to create and different ways to solve a puzzle. You have got to play Scribblenauts, because you will never play anything else like it. Why not pick up a copy for you and a friend this holiday season and see who can come up with the most unique way of beating a level, or try to stump each other by creating your own levels to trade? You would be giving the gift of creativity and endless possibility! Enjoy!
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