Super Scribblenauts: Win.

Super Scribblenauts:
System: Nintendo DS
Released: 2010
Rating: E10+ (There are guns, swords, explosives, and obscure weapons you've never heard of, which can and probably will be used on human targets. All carnage is bloodless.)

In 2009, a company called 5th Cell released Scribblenauts, a game about a guy named Maxwell in a spiffy rooster hat and a magical notebook that can summon anything. It went unnoticed up until E3, shortly before its release, when critics discovered that A) Yes, it really can summon just about any noun, including some internet memes. B) It sparked its own meme, Post 217 on a gaming forum thread about how the guy used a time machine to ride a dinosaur to fight robot zombies. Both of these led to the most anticipated game of the season, possibly the most massive hypefest ever, especially for a handheld game. Apart from Post 217, by Feep of NeoGAF forums (all of which can be summoned in the game in its honor), Maxwell's rooster hat also became popular enough to become the original's preorder bonus. And yes, that was that weird hat I wore at auditions last year. Sadly, upon playing it we all realized something: Fun as the word generator was, controls were so badly screwed up that Maxwell was prone to jumping off a cliff into a pit of lava as you tried to place together a bridge. Still, response was positive enough in every other respect to merit a sequel, Super Scribblenauts. This game added two things: The first was a button-based control system that ACTUALLY WORKED, (as well as a massively improved touch screen control) which is why I recommend it to you instead of the original game. The second was the addition of adjectives. If you ever wanted a Sparkling Pink Magical Pony, that works. Yellow Beautiful Chainsaw? Sure, why not? Polkadot winged striped bathtub? Of course! Which is what I, and everybody, love about Scribblenauts: Your only limit is your twisted imagination.

As Maxwell, you get to summon a bunch of random stuff to solve puzzles, from mundane things like "Get this cat out of a tree" (sure, ladders work, but why not summon termites, a chainsaw, beavers, lumberjack, or come to it a flaming sword?) to "create something that can stop a rampaging Shoggoth" (Answer is, as always, Cthulhu, but the kraken or a giant dinosaur or Mosasaur work as well) for shiny star-shaped MacGuffins called Starite. There's really no plot, but the game is fun because the Development Team came up with so much stuff. Literally, it's a TON of stuff. Apparently they spent three months for the first game coming up with words, and it's a safe bet that they spent another month or two on Super Scribblenauts's adjectives. Partial lists have over 20,000 words. ... Yeah. Due to the fun inherent in just trying to find what's in and what reacts with what, the team also came up with a sandbox mode on the start screen where you can write in anything and play around with stuff. Honestly, after that, the rest of the game is just extra. Here's a few examples of fun to be had:

- Summon a shark. Summon a ray gun. The ray gun naturally attaches to your shark, giving you a shark with frickin' laser beams.
- Summon a president. Hey, look!

Yes, that is Baba Yaga, a couple goths, a valkyrie and Barack Obama. And possibly Batgirl.

- Or this. I don't know what it is, but I want one.





- Want to test Pirate vs. Ninja? Sure. How about putting them on a trampoline, or a viking ship? Hey, why not make them ride cuddly Shoggoths?
- Or, how about a giant sand worm? Summonable. Treant? Summonable. Medusa? Basilisk? Minotaur? Wood elves that attack dwarves? Cthulhu? Mosasaur? Utahraptor? Unicorn? Excalibur? King Arthur? Giant Enemy Crab? Keyboardcat? Epic fail? Rickroll? (Now, come on, you brought that one on yourself)

 ALL SUMMONABLE. I mean, really. When a developer saw someone at E3 stumping the dictionary with "Plumbob", he called the rest of the team and then told the guy it would be available in the final game. THEY COME UP WITH EVERYTHING!

I mean... Really. Everything.

Calm now.

And with the addition of adjectives, there are like ten thousand new words, resulting in things like cerulean, sunlit, cow-like, centaurian, tricolor and cotton elementals.

And you thought I was joking, didn't you?

 

These screenshots also highlight the somewhat simple but downright adorable art style of the game. With clouds hanging on strings and clear joints on the mammals with screws, it kind of looks like a little kid's deranged toy box... If the toy box contained just about everything kid-friendly, non copyrighted, and mostly no proper nouns. I want this toy box, actually. The presentation, at any rate, is cutesy and amusing, with cheery, upbeat music even as you summon werewolves and vampires to prove once and for all who's really deserving of a boring teenage girl's love. Actually, I wouldn't mind an Edward vs. Jacob fight to the death. That would be funny. *Digs out game*

In conclusion, if your kid's of reading age and has a DS, buy this game. If you want to improve your vocabulary, buy this game. If you're just bored on a rainy day and want something to make you smile as you make flying surfboards and fluffy flying floral fishsticks, buy this game. So long as you've got no problem with bloodless violence and the potential to use babies as bait, this is a game that anyone with a DS should play.

Final score:
Presentation: D'aww.
Controls: They work!
Gameplay: Clever puzzles with "advance" levels that don't let you try the same word twice in a row.
Fun: Ever wondered who'd win in a fight between Washington with a giant axe, Thor, and a fancy polar bear? Find out.
Overall score: 9
Child friendliness?: Anyone over 3rd grade or so ought to be able to handle this game. E10+ indeed.
If not available at your local game store, try here.