Great idea marred by braindead controls
posted by IceBurner (ISSAQUAH, WA) Sep 22, 2009
Member since Sep 2007
10
out of
12
gamers (83%) found this review helpful
Scribblenauts is a wonderful, wonderful idea with an unfortunately flawed execution. The gameplay concepts work very well; you really can invoke just about anything, solve things very imaginatively, be very impractical, or very ingenious. The issue is with the controls.
You invoke and manipulate objects with the stylus. You also move Maxwell (your character) with the stylus. The camera can be moved away so that you can keep out of danger or from being in the way to solve puzzles more efficiently, but it likes to auto-scroll back to Maxwell. Beginning to catch onto the problem? Mis-touch once and Maxwell is all too happy to careen right into the solution you were carefully trying to set up, or to his death. This issue is exacerbated by the auto-returning camera and small size of commonly used items such as ropes, cords, chains, etc. The alternative of button controls for your character are not a tall order and are an incredibly stupid omission.
After pitching himself to his death and the wait to restart a level for the umpteenth time, I was finally fed up to the point where I couldn't justify >>trying<< to play any longer; it was just wasting my time. This is so ludicrously unfortunate because Scribblenauts had all the potential to be game of the year -- the core elements of the gameplay are solid gold fun. It's a shame the user interface is so poorly thought out as to literally stand in the way of what could have been the single most fun & replayable game ever.
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