Scribblenauts has been one of the most hyped DS games of all-time, as it won a number of awards this year when it showed at E3. Scribblenauts, however, isn't a game that completely lives up to the hype, which makes me wonder how it won so much in the first place. Did people play the game or just randomly type words in at the title screen and praise it as the best thing ever? While the gameplay is quite fun, the terrible controls are unbearable at times and are easily some of the worst I've ever experienced on the DS.

In Scribblenauts you play as Maxwell – a Scribblenaut – who must thwart an evil villain from stealing all the stars in the sky and using them for his own nefarious schemes. Okay, so that's a lie, because the truth is that Scribblenauts has absolutely no story whatsoever. You're Maxwell. You're a Scribblenaut. You collect starites by solving puzzles…that's it.

Moo Cow

The game features a ton of levels and challenges, which will keep you busy for a long time if you find yourself enjoying the game. While you only have one world open at the beginning, you can unlock others by using earned Ollars (in-game money). Each world presents a series of challenges, which are broken down into two categories: puzzle and action. Puzzle challenges are often the easiest of the game, though some are still tricky. The levels start by giving you a hint, such as give Santa something he'll enjoy, and the game will reward you a starite as soon as you meet the requirement. For the Santa problem, for instance, you can give him milk, cookies, or even children (apparently he's a pedophile). The action levels, however, are all about trying to find a way to cross the level and reach the starite. The action levels typically require more ingenuity and thinking in order to complete them.

The goal for each level is the same, but once you've collected the starite once that doesn't mean you're done. If you want to really go for a challenge, test your skills, and fully complete the game, you'll have to go back into each level and successfully beat it three consecutive times in a row, without being able to use any of the same items you've used in attempts before. So if you use a jetpack the first time, you're unable to use it on any of the other two attempts. It's very challenging to complete the levels in this way, as you often really have to think outside of the box for a solution, though some levels are easier than others to complete.

Levels also reward more or less Ollars depending on how well you completed the level. For instance, each level has a par rating, much like you see in golf; if you can use fewer items than the suggested par you get more Ollars. You also get more Ollars by completing the level fast, doing so with uniqueness and style, and by receiving merits. Merits are rewarded for such things as not using any weapons, extinguishing all fires, and exterminating all life.

As it has been stated a number of times before, Scribblenauts is all about typing words into the game's dictionary, watching the game produce said items, and then using those items to help you solve the challenges. The game's library of words is very robust, though still not perfect, as there has been several words I've tried, but which produced no result (ones that don't go against the rules set forth by the game, by the way). For the most part, though, the game is impressive with all the things you can type in and create. Sharks, ninjas, pirates, UFOs, zombies, cowboys, ladders, anvils, ray gun, etc. After you've typed an item into the game's notebook, it next requires placement into the level before it can be used. It's usually easy finding a spot for the smaller items, but large vehicles need a lot of space, and loose objects – such as rope – require more finagling since it's hard to drag them into the right spot so that they don't overlap the environment. Once an item is placed in the level, you can freely move it around, drop it, hand it to other characters, fill it up, jump in it, climb it, play it, or whatever action is most associated to that object. Many items are fairly easy to use in some cases in regards to their use, but some, like say a trumpet, don't initially do anything but look like an instrument, and instead it takes some playing around to learn how to blow it.

The game, however, suffers from numerous problems, which are all related to the controls and items in the game. Instead of writing one long free-flowing paragraph, here are the bullet points for each problem:

- not once was I able to use the drawing method in order to input a word, as the game time and time again failed to recognize a simple letter

- inputting by touch screen keyboard sometimes produces double hits instead of just one tap

- if you don't spell a word 100% correct, it won't know what the hell you're trying to spell. Messing up the fifth letter, for example, confuses the first letters, so asking for an aardvark could produce the recommendation of apple

- some words can unexpectedly break a level for no explainable reason, which often causes objects to swoosh and disappear off the screen

- it's difficult to properly manipulate objects together or that are on top of each other, because stylus taps usually grab the one you didn't want

- because the stylus not only controls item placement but the movement of Maxwell, you'll often find Maxwell running headlong into a problem or starting a level before you even got an item placed right, since the game will think you're trying to move him rather than manipulate an item

Vamping Out

The last bullet point is the single biggest problem, as I cursed, screamed, and closed my DS out of frustration so many times because Maxwell decided to run right at an alligator while trying to place something near it instead. So you'll see Maxwell run straight into enemies, jump into death pits, and trip traps all because of frankly piss poor controls. It's silly to have everything be controlled by stylus, when having the directional pad and buttons be used for Maxwell movement would've easily solved most of the problems the game has.

Scribblenauts is a pretty simple looking game, as everything is flat, 2D, and looks as if it was made out of construction paper. While some would say the game's graphics are crappy, I find the style quite charming and soothing, which helps make the idea of gunning a panda down with a shotgun more bearable when it looks so adorable. The graphics and interactions aren't particular smooth, however, so there are some drawbacks with the style As for the sound work, I wasn't too impressed, as the background music recycles, characters and items make very little noise, and sound effects don't sound like much of anything really.

Scribblenauts is a game I wanted to thoroughly enjoy, but there are too many poor gameplay decisions that ultimately hurt the final product. The premise and foundation are a solid idea, but the execution is so flawed it's often hard to tolerate the game for stretches at a time. It's a game that puzzle fans should really enjoy, but they're going to have to be able to overlook a lot of problems in order to find the quality game that could've been.

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