Seeing as this game came out almost a month ago and the 2 minute attention span of the Internet has moved on to the next “big thing” I thought it’d be appropriate to talk about Scribblenauts the game by 5th cell for the Nintendo DS. The game enjoyed near universal praise while it was being shown at conventions and show… Everyone kept talking about how great the concept was and how much fun they had solving the various puzzles the game presents you using the most ridiculous items possible (a personal friend kept telling me about using Cthulu and a laser sword (lightsaber being copyrighted) to complete one). On this wave of praise I made sure I had ordered the game and looked forward to playing it especially because it looked like just the type of game D would love as well.
When the game arrived I eagerly slid it into my DS and booted the system up, the game has a short tutorial (that I felt was still too long, this isn’t rocket science and besides the manual is lying right here in front of me!) and then you dive into the meat and potatoes. A quick description might be in order, in Scribblenauts you solve puzzles by summoning objects that you write into the game. The first 30 minutes was a blast, as I spent most of the time trying to think up the ridiculous things to summon into the world: black holes, clones, pirates, ninjas, etc., etc. After playing around I settled down into solving the puzzles and my enjoyment began to wane almost immediately. It wasn’t the concept of the game that had failed though, rather it was the imagination of the designers who came up with the puzzles. Very soon the obstacles placed before you become repetitive. And, despite the vast vocabulary at your disposal there are only so many variants on a flying, diving, and tying things together… I’m going to surmise that 90% of the words included in Scribblenauts dictionary will never be used. For one, there is no list and so players do not know their options. Second, players vocabularies aren’t vast. Finally, the game doesn’t really give you a reason to think outside the box, the puzzles are all variants on common themes: fetch this, bring these two things together, avoid this, etc. I could use a vine, wire, cord, or chain to tie two objects together but in the end I’ll keep using the rope.
An hour in and I had become bored and set it down.
I’ve gone back to it but each play is for a short period, never more than a puzzle or two, anymore than that and I find myself being burned out on how unimaginative the designers were and how despite all the tools at my disposal I’d only ever need a handful of them to get through the entire game. Scribblenauts is a great concept, a nice toolbox, a good first draft, but it isn’t much of a game, and definitely not a fun one.
