The Playstation Wonder - Scribblenauts

Scribblenauts is an upcoming emergent puzzle action video game in development by 5TH Cell and conceptualized by game designer Jeremiah Slaczka for the Nintendo DS. The game is published through Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and is to be released on September 15, 2009. It is the third Nintendo DS video game made by 5TH Cell, the first two being Drawn to Life and Lock's Quest. The objective of Scribblenauts, as implied by its catchphrase "Write Anything, Solve Everything", is to complete puzzles to collect "Starites", helped by the player's ability to summon a large variety of objects by writing an object's name on the touchscreen.

Scribblenauts is a platformer-cum-puzzle game that stole the limelight at this year's E3. It made such an impression, that wit outshined heavyweights such as Splinter Cell: Conviction and God of War III. Since then, we've had a chance to spend some more time with this delightful DS game, and we're pleased to report that it's still a unique experience to savor.
If you're unfamiliar with Scribblenauts, then this isn't your typical, run-of-the-mill experience. It's a mix of platformer and puzzle game, but what makes it so special is how you actually play. You write words using the stylus on the touch screen, and then the item you've written will appear in front of you. You can then use these objects to help solve the puzzles you're presented with; in other words, it's a completely new concept in video games.

Naturally, there are a few limitations to the system. The game won't recognise names, places, shapes, root words, and mature or vulgar content, and anything that's copyrighted can't be used. There's also a limit to how many objects you can place in a level because each object takes up a certain amount of the onscreen memory bar. It's easy to delete an item and start again simply by dragging and dropping the item into a trash can on the touch screen. On one level, we tried writing "fly spray" and "repellent" on a fly, but in this case, "bug spray" and "insect spray" were the acceptable solutions. The sheer amount of objects in the database is amazing, and while you may stump it occasionally (for example, Devonshire tea appears in the form of a cup of tea), this is usually the exception to the rule.

Given that 5th Cell also developed Drawn to Life, it's not surprising that both games have a similar art style, with Scribblenauts boasting a rough, hand-drawn style that suits the game perfectly. The most impressive aspect of the game's visuals is that all of the objects we drew actually looked pretty much as we expected and could be instantly recognised despite the DS's low-resolution screen.

Scribblenauts is coming to the Nintendo DS this September! So, the wait is worth the time.