Scribblenauts is a game that was released for the Nintendo DS in 2009, yet only two years later, a version is now available for iOS devices. It is not very often that a Nintendo game makes its way onto an iPhone, but in this case, the jump seems very natural and logical. In the original Scribblenauts game, players tapped out letters on a stylus to spell out objects that would then appear inside the game. These objects would then be used to solve puzzles within the world of the game. The main method for interacting with the world in this game is through the keyboard, so it makes sense that Scribblenauts would be ported to iOS so far and not any other video game platform.
You may be turned off by the thought of all that typing, but give this concept a chance as it provides for a creative environment that is unmatched by any other game or virtual reality system. The game engine in Scribblenauts allows you to create whatever you can type. It is nearly that literal. First of all, it has an object dictionary of at least 10,000 things ranging from inanimate items, buildings, to animals and people. If that’s not enough, you can preface your objects with adjectives to give them specialized characteristics or functions. Adding adjectives to inanimate objects can also make them come alive to express your specified adjective. As an example, you could type out ‘angry spoon’ and once the spoon is placed in the world, it will go around looking for a fight. Not only that but it can also do real damage to other objects and destroy them. More importantly, it can even kill Maxwell, the character that you play in the game, so you need to be judicious in what you create.
To put this all in perspective, the Scribblenauts world is mostly a two-dimensional world where large objects cannot go around each other–they can only go over or under. Additionally, all of the graphics and their animation are cartoonish. Although technically, that simplification allows for a virtual world to run on a handheld device, it also works well as a user interface since more complexity and more degrees of freedom would make controlling the objects too difficult. Overall though, gameplay is quite fun and even playing on the blank canvas of the practice level is entertainment by itself.
The Remix in Scribblenauts Remix refers to a mix of levels selected from the original Scribblenauts and its sequel, Super Scribblenauts along with a few brand new levels. They could have named it Scribblenauts Lite since some central elements of the original games were left out and there are far fewer levels than the Nintendo DS versions. Furthermore, many of the levels do not allow for creative play. Instead, they are exercises in recalling object names, which have very little replay value and are antagonistic to the playful and creative spirit that this game encourages. They are more useful as training levels, but there are too many of them. If you compare the price of Scribblenauts Remix to the $30 price for the Nintendo DS version though, the value seems fair.
Although the Scribblenauts games are marketed as games, there is a high educational value to them as well since they can help beginning readers to learn to spell and use a keyboard. There is certainly a motivating factor in being able to conjure virtually any kind of object and seeing it appear and interacting with it. Despite the appeal it has to children, Scribblenauts also has a large following from adults. This applies to Scribblenauts Remix as well, but since this is an abbreviated version of the console game, an average adult could probably finish all of the levels in one sitting.
Scribblenauts Remix is still well worth its price at $4.99.
[etRating value=“ 4.5”]
