E3: Scribblenauts Hands On

As mentioned in our E3 Sum-up, one of the most remarkable games we saw at E3 was also one of the smallest - Scribblenauts on the DS. In Scribblenauts, you guide a kid called Maxwell through a world consisting of 220 scenario-based puzzles. In order to solve a puzzle, the player must think of an object for Maxwell to use, write it down on the touch screen, and it will materialize for Maxwell to interact with. It's a tricky pitch, for the human imagination is limitless, and surely something like 'vomit-door' isn't in Scribblenauts' vocabulary? Maybe not, but 'vomit' is, and 'door' is - everything you'd find in a basic English dictionary. Scribblenauts' greatest achievement is that it can really draw almost anything (within reason), and therefore there are a ton of ways to solve each puzzle.

Before mothers start wringing their hands, fear not, for it was stressed to us that 'cussing' and references to drugs and alcohol are strictly off limits - although you can still conjure up weapons if you wish. Even these are fairly inoffensive, due to the fact that Scribblenauts is very cartoonish in presentation, Maxwell himself a few steps ahead of being a mere stick figure with eyes. The 2D 'children's drawing' look is charming, and also vital to the gameplay mechanics: having a more advanced graphics engine would probably result in internal combustion as players try to 'test' its limitations.

There's a fear that comes with limitless player choice: will the puzzles actually be challenging? The goal in each puzzle is to reach an object known as a 'Starite', which are located in various ways beyond Maxwell's immediate reach. In the scenario we played, Maxwell stood on a small island with sky above him and water beneath him. In front of him was a wall, and behind the wall was the Starite. Now, this is obviously one of the more basic levels, and the solutions are fairly immediate. Still, lateral thinking is fun, and we wanted to see what the game's little engine could produce.

At first we asked for a cat (one of our less imaginative efforts), then a dog, then a kiwi - represent! We asked for a pogo stick, a jetpack, a submarine and a snorkel. All of these materialized. Objects can interact with one another too: the cat and the dog will fight, water will put out fire, a lion will eat a deer - everything acts according to its real-life counterpart, or not so real, if you choose to summon a vampire. Luckily the game has a great sense of humour, with pop culture, fantasy, religion and science-fiction taken into account (as widely reported, Internet phenomenon 'keyboard cat' IS in the Scribblenauts database). We finished the puzzle, by the way, with a snorkel we used to dive under the water then up the other side, and although this does sound easy, we were promised a steep difficulty curve as the game progresses.

Incidentally, one of the greatest parts of Scribblenauts is its menu screen, which showcases the engine at its most basic. Here you can just feel free to type in whatever you wish and see the results - I heard of people pitching God versus zombies, politicians versus werewolves, cowboys who ride on top of surfboards. At this stage the encyclopedia isn't finished either, with more obscure words added every day.

Scribblenauts is shaping up to be one of the most original and imaginative games I've seen, and it really does seem to have delivered on its ambitious premise. With a little more challenge in its gameplay, it could be an absolute sensation; at last, a game that actually does what it says on the box.