[Guest preview by Infendo Newsletter and MC Lars webmaster, Chris!] Scribblenauts is definitely one of the most anticipated games of the year, almost any gaming news outlet has given the game all the hype in the world. The game that lets you write out anything to interact with anything in any way has everyone counting down to September 15th, eagerly awaiting the release of the game. Well, college hasn’t stopped me from whipping out my DSi and I’ve played it for about a couple of hours now. Is it as awesome as it’s made out to be?
I would say yes and no. It’s definitely awesome to type almost anything in and see it come to life. Jetpacks make any level easier, dingos eat babies, and you can get some sweet air off a ramp at the bottom of a hill (also, try out Thomas Edison for a truly wtf?! moment). The problem that I seem to be having is the interaction part.
To me, it seems only logical that placing a campfire down, creating a stick and marshmallow will soon have me making delicious ‘smores. But the stick is only a couple of inches big. Typing “bigger stick” doesn’t change anything. So, how about a pool cue? But the marshmallow won’t fit on that. Maybe I should try some glue and stick it on. But that doesn’t work either. So I just throw the marshmallow in the fire, but then that burns away. My campfire treat ends in failure.
It seems that a lot of my ideas end in failure so far, especially my attempts at creating a grappling hook. Usually the item isn’t as big as I need it to be. Or the controls for moving the main guy around are not exactly precise, so I find myself falling off a ledge quite a bit. Some of the last puzzles I have attempted have taken me a long time to finish. But I just imagine that it’ll have to take me a while to get used to what I can and can’t do.
I’ve only played the first set of puzzles, so I can’t say the whole game is like that. I’ve found that getting to a star on a hard level is extremely satisfying, and I’ve gotten weird looks from my dorm mates when I jump up and bellow “oh hellz yeah!!”. When you get the parts to go together right, then the game is a lot of fun. Otherwise, it’s fustrating, like a good puzzle game should be. I can’t wait to get back from calculus class and play some more.
And if there’s one thing that was done right in this game, it’s that a pirate will always beat a ninja. Always. And it’s awesome.