The CHIMES

Issue date: 10/2/09 Section: Lifestyle

The Scribblenauts box artwork. Scribblenauts is a game where virtually anything is possible, with thousands of creative solutions to almost every puzzle. Photo courtesy of kotaku.com.

A young girl is standing beside her home, crying. After noticing her, you look up and see a poor, defenseless kitty stuck on the roof of the building. You must find a way to reunite the two.

You type in "wings" and a pair of white, feathery wings appear and you equip them, fly up to the roof, grab the cute kitten and bring it to the little girl. Along with praise, you obtain a Starite. That is just one out of more than 200 puzzles you must solve in Scribblenauts, 5thCell's newly released Nintendo DS title.

The game puts you in the role of Maxwell, a boy who helps people using a special notepad. The notepad allows anything you input into it, such as "dragon" or "pie" to come to life. This ingenious idea won 5thCell, the developers, an award for most original game out of E3'09.

There are over 200 levels for players to use their vocabulary and imagination to solve puzzles over two game modes. One mode has you finding ways to reveal the magical starites which are in each level of the game. The second mode already has the starite shown, the player just has to find a way to obtain it.

There are many scenarios to choose from, including helping a firefighter and police officer find the tools they need to get their jobs done or simply helping a man find some nourishment in the hot desert. Creativity is the key to finding solutions to these problems.

Instead of just creating a bottle of water for the thirsty man, you can give him a glass of juice, create a "fire hydrant" and a "hose" and blast him with refreshing boosts of water or you can even create a "sea" and drop it near him for a longer lasting, refreshing place to relax. There are several ways to help the people in the Scribblenaut's world, you just have to use the power of words.

The art design was built with adorableness in mind. The characters are built in this sort of makeshift cardboard, paper and nail mixture with bright colors and wonderful music that appeal to all ages.

You can buy extras, like skins for Maxwell and extra music for the game, at the Ollar Store. There, you spend the points you receive after completing a puzzle. There are other features, such as the level editor, where players can create their own worlds and share them through a Wi-Fi connection with other Scribblenaut players.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools