"Scribblenauts" deserves a shot

"Scribblenauts" is a new unique puzzler from developer 5th Cell. It asks players to collect Starites over 220 different puzzles using only their magic notebook. A magic notebook that, conveniently enough, allows the player to summon pretty much any object or any creature. Anything. Swine flu? Check. Iron maiden? Dour, but completely doable. Legendary Kraken? Why not?

5th Cell's approach to puzzle solving is incredibly unique. Very few games force the player to ask themselves the question "how do I move this baby past a dragon without harming either of them?" And even more rarely would such a puzzle be solved by an escalator, a parachute and a fan.

The charm of "Scribblenauts" comes from its freedom in puzzle solving. The sheer number of words in "Scribblenauts" is staggering. It does, for the most part, manage to back up its promise to wow the player to "Write anything. Solve anything." In playing it, I came across a few words that it did not contain, but for the most part, it was very responsive to what I had to type.

But the game does count on the player's imagination. Quite a few puzzles can be solved using similar objects. If you play it that way, the game does get boring. Some of the puzzles are frustrating enough that you will come to rely on the old dinosaur-and-ghost combo. While it does keep the game moving, you lose out on some of the fulfillment you get from completing a particularly difficult puzzle. You can blow through most of the puzzles pretty quickly, using these same objects, but 5th Cell added an advanced mode where the player must solve the puzzles three times in succession without reusing objects. It turns out to be a very clever way to both extend the life of the game and force the player to be at least a little ingenious.

On the flip side, nothing makes you feel as accomplished as finding the perfect object to solve a particularly difficult puzzle.

The depth of this game is pretty staggering for how small the development team was. Predictably, vampires flee from garlic, babies can ride in strollers and a jetpack will allow Maxwell to fly around.

"Scribblenauts" is a very novel puzzle solver that really rewards creativity (which is a rare sight in games today). It does not realize all of its potential, but it still pushes pretty far. While most games that bank on novelty tend to lose their luster, this is one that lasts as long as you can keep feeding it interesting situations. This is truly a unique game, and if dinosaur-riding knights are your thing, it certainly deserves a look.