Out of the box crazy fun

by Pramath Parijat

Fun factor: Fun

Worth to: Buy

Players need to support games as original and fun as Scribblenauts. Truly, the most engaging gaming experience we’ve had this generation, despite the flaws.

Few handheld games in the past, if any, have been as burdened with almost unreasonable hype and expectations as Scribblenauts has. The game, which shot its way into the spotlight when it outperformed big budget titles like Uncharted 2 and Modern Warfare 2 at E3 earlier this year, has since been under careful scrutiny. The cynics, unable to accept that a concept as endearingly all-encompassing as Scribblenauts promised to be could ever be implemented, have had many a faceoff with those who claimed that such a title was possible, and that it would change gaming as we know it forever.

God vs. Satan vs. Kraken

It really is no wonder that Scribblenauts evokes such passionate responses from all -- the premise of this game is so mind bogglingly vast that the mind finds it hard to believe it could ever be done. For the uninitiated -- and surprisingly, there are quite a few of those -- Scribblenauts is a game centered around one magical concept: you solving in-game puzzles with whatever object you wish to summon. So, as long as your object is a noun, not trademarked, vulgar, offensive or alcohol, then whatever you wish for can be summoned.



The game has a vocabulary numbered at a staggering 22, 802 words, and what is more, each object behaves exactly as it would in real life, meaning that if you summon a cheetah, yes, it will outrun you, and most possibly attack and kill you. A cop WILL try and reach for a donut, no matter where and how far out of reach it is. And a machine gun WILL blow the crap out of any adversary who stands in your way.

The possibilities offered thus are endless: who would come off better in a faceoff, a Tyrannosaurus Rex, or a horde of flesh eating zombies? If a robber was equipped with a jetpack, and a cop with a far-reaching flamethrower, then would the former be able to escape the latter? And above all, between God and Satan, who would win? And why is it that the Kraken can defeat them both? Scenarios such as these, and countless others limited only by your imagination can be played out before your eyes in Scribblenauts.

Foiled by a bee… again!

Of course, this neat gameplay mechanism is pretty much nothing more than a neat toy unless it is actually implemented -- and properly -- in the game, and here is where Scribblenauts begins to show strain at the seams.

The main concept is in no way its undoing; it works exactly as you would expect to. It’s, rather, how the game actually plays out, and how it is influenced by a certain number of broken objects afforded to the player by the vast trove of words offered that negatively affects gameplay.

As far as the controls go, they certainly could have been loads better, and it is clear that Scribblenauts is not a game you would use as evidence to tout your case for touch screen centric gaming. The main character, Maxwell, can be controlled by simply touching a spot on the touch screen. Think Phantom Hourglass, but in a 2D side-scrolling setup, and you’ll get the basic idea. To interact with an object, all you have to do is tap it. Maxwell then moves to it, and you are offered the option to choose one out of several possible interactions.



As you can imagine, this kind of a control scheme lends itself to several issues, the most potentially annoying of which is misinterpretation of commands. For instance, you may have equipped Maxwell with a bazooka launcher, and then tapped at the incoming horde of angry zombies so that Maxwell will shoot, but more often than not, the command is interpreted as movement, and so, Maxwell walks happily to his death. While it certainly is amusing to see the hilarious results that rise due to these drawbacks -- I was repeatedly attacked by a bee, when I wanted to swat it, until it stung me to death -- it does get annoying to see a great plan that you had in mind to fail so spectacularly, and it becomes tedious to repeat the same level over and over again.

While that covers the basic control related issues, I would like to draw attention to yet another oversight on the developers’ part. To summon an object, you punch in the word, one letter at a time, using a virtual QWERTY keyboard, or a handwriting recognition software that seems to have no knowledge whatsoever of the alphabet. As you can imagine, this becomes quite irritating, especially when we are required to summon the same object repeatedly -- the game really should have included a “Last 5 Objects” list or something, which would have made the experience that much more streamlined.

Yes, it’s flawed, but it’s also damn good

But apart from these annoying control and interface issues, Scribblenauts really is a lot of fun, and it lives up to its promise admirably well. It often forces you to be creative with a ‘Par Object’ number designated to each level. This means that the game expects you to get through the level using at the most the “on par” number of objects. While you certainly can exceed this limit, the Ollars (the game’s currency) that you will get upon completion of the level will be significantly less than if you don’t. Then again, there’s an advanced mode that requires you to complete the same level three different times, using different objects each time. Doing this, and attempting to stay within the ‘Par’ limit, really pushes the borders of your ingenuity to the limit.

There are other ways the game rewards out of the box thinking. It has an achievement system, known as the Merit System, which rewards unique, funky and unexpected solutions on the player’s part in getting through a level. Then, there is a level creator mode which allows you to unleash the sadist within you as you plot devilishly tricky mazes to torture your friends as they attempt to steer clear of the obstacles you set for them. Yes, the levels you create can be shared, either locally or online, though the latter aspect of this feature is somewhat crippled thanks to the DS’s reliance on Friend Codes. However, it really adds an all new dimension to the game, simply to have the potential of playing through an endless number of levels, and this lends the game to even more replay value than it already has.



So there we have it then -- Scribblenauts, as a game, is fundamentally flawed. It lacks a refining coat of polish, it bungles with some basic interface and control issues, and it often imposes seemingly unreasonable limits that are incongruous with the game’s otherwise creative premise that encourages you to push your imagination to its limits. But all of its flaws cease to matter once you actually start playing, because by then, you are simply much too engrossed in this world of possibilities, in a world that you literally control and command. Not only that, but the sheer fun you have when you see your crazy scheme coming to fruition, and the satisfaction you get when an unlikely plan goes off as planned, is unparalleled.

Scribblenauts is filled with the kind of joy we all felt when we were young, when the child in us was the only limitation to the artistry of our imagination. Today, Scribblenauts gives us a way to return to all that. It provides us with a blank canvas to really test our ingenuity. Games like Scribblenauts are a once in a decade experience.

Summary

Yes, it might be flawed. Yes, it might have its problems, but only because it is the first to attempt such a feat, and succeed. The inevitable sequel will no doubt fix all these niggles, and more. In the meantime, you would do well not to ignore Scribblenauts. For no excuse whatsoever should this delightful experience be missed. Players need to support games that dare to attempt the un-attempted, and you really will find no better example of such a game than Scribblenauts.