Go-To Gamer: Scribblenauts

November 2, 2009

Imagine this: you type in the name of any object you want into the Nintendo DS’s touch screen, and it appears for you to do anything you want with it.  This is the concept behind what is possibly the most ambitious handheld title I’ve ever seen: Scribblenauts. After a few minutes with it, I can easily see why it was praised as E3’s prestigious “Game of the Show.”

The main concept of the game is to use your summoned objects to solve a variety of puzzles. While this may seem deceptively simple, it’s the sheer amount of possibilities that make the game exciting.  For example, I was faced with the challenge of fetching a star from the top of a tree. On my first attempt, I decided to simply spawn a chainsaw and cut the tree down.  Second time around, I queued up some wings and flew straight up to the treetop.  Finally, I summoned a beaver, which quickly proceeded to gnaw at the tree’s trunk, allowing me to claim my prize when it came crashing down.

The game’s dictionary of words is exhaustive, amounting to over 20,000. But the game does come with its limits. No copyrighted names are allowed (sorry, no Optimus Primes or Chuck Norrises here), and certain object models are used more than once (God and Zeus look oddly familiar). Additionally, the game’s 200+ puzzles grow difficult at an unusually swift pace, not at all helped by the strange control scheme of moving your character via touch screen rather than the D-pad.  But quibbles aside, the meat of the game is what matters, and Scribblenauts certainly delivers.

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