Scribblenauts presents to the player a shit load of small puzzles ranging from breaking open a pinata, to reuniting a father and son in an unlit cave. The twist; rather than providing a concise set of tools to complete these tasks, the game lets you use any kind of item you can think of, by merely entering it's name. From riot shields to dart guns, the game's repertoire of items is both extensive and impressive (and before you ask, no it doesn't recognise penis). As you can probably imagine, this makes for some pretty interesting puzzle scenarios, even if most just boil down to having to work out what the hell the level designer was thinking of. Admittedly, after your umpteenth approach to a problem yet again yields no love, the game can become quite frustrating, but that gripe pales in comparison to the control issues.
For reason unbeknownst to me, both the movement and object manipulation is controlled simultaneously using the stylus. As such, once things start getting fiddly - such as when you're trying to attach small shit together - the main character frequently starts dashing about like a blind idiot, screwing as much up in the process as possible. Even just to get him to do something sensible can often become a pain in the arse, be it either because he's incapable of doing such a thing or because the AI controlling him chose to do something far more retarded instead. Worst of all, had they just simply decided to use the buttons for control instead, this whole issue could have been avoided.
So does one reward original thinking or punish unrefined ideas? For me, originality wins out. Yes this game pissed me off at times, but it still beats playing one of the mindless shit heaps EA pumps out each year. What with the immense amount of bite sized content on offer, this game will keep you busy (and frustrated) for a while.
