Video Game Review: Addictive, Hilarious ‘Super Scribblenauts’ For Nintendo DS

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CHICAGO – Puzzle games don’t get any more inventive or enjoyable than the ridiculously addictive “Super Scribblenauts,” a game that challenges the player to come up with the most creative way possible to solve a puzzle. Unlike many Nintendo DS puzzle game which require you to use the analytical part of your brain, this wonderful title demands that you think outside of the box. It’s one of the best games you could buy for your DS.

Super Scribblenauts
Super Scribblenauts
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Most gamers are familiar with “Scribblenauts,” the very-enjoyable predecessor to this even-more-accomplished handheld title, but if you’re not than the concept is simple enough to grab within minutes of picking up the sequel. You must guide Maxwell through a series of puzzles and your main tool is your imagination. With a vocabulary of nearly thousands of words that can be merged in different adjective/noun situations to create thousands of combinations, the player merely writes in what he or she would like to introduce into the scene.

For example, on an early level, you have to help get a man from the top of a cliff to the bottom. You can write “Parachute,” obviously, and give it to the man. Mission accomplished. But you could also write any number of other things including “Helicopter,” “Jetpack,” and more. Each level has multiple solutions, making for a title that not only stays fresh but offers something typically missing from a puzzle title: Immense replayability. Puzzle game players almost always want to move on to the next puzzle as quickly as one is solved, but you’ll find yourself repeating levels in “Super Scribblenauts” just because you thought of an interesting “Plan B” and want to see how it turns out.

And, more often than not, it will turn out hysterically. How many games have puzzles that can be solved by writing “Zombie Cat”? The blend of language and problem-solving skills makes for one of the most laugh-out-loud, purely enjoyable titles in a very long time. If you see someone with a DS on the bus or train and they’re laughing to themselves than they’re probably playing “Super Scribblenauts.”

Super Scribblenauts
Super Scribblenauts
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

How is it different from the game before? Adjectives are the biggest addition. Now you can make a shy dragon or an angry monkey and the levels are designed in a way to make the adjectives essential to some of the puzzle-solving. The game boasts 10,000+ adjectives that can either help solve the puzzle or merely make your solution that much more entertaining. It also features a new control scheme for Maxwell.

With the 120 brand new levels to play, “Super Scribblenauts” would be more than worth its purchase price, but it also features a new level editor which allows you to create and share your own levels.

The genius of “Super Scribblenauts” is that its an individualistic game in a genre that almost always works with a uniform solution. Most puzzle games have one path from A to B. “Super Scribblenauts” encourages the creative approach to puzzle-solving and it’s one of the most consistently-engaging and enjoyable games of the year that plays well to all demographics. It would make a great holiday season gift for anyone with a Nintendo DS and an imagination.

‘Super Scribblenauts’ was released by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and developed by 5TH Cell. It is rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older). The title is exclusive to the Nintendo DS. It was released on October 12th, 2010.

HollywoodChicago.com content director Brian Tallerico

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

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