5th Cell was back at E3 this year with a sequel to the biggest game of last year’s show. Did they address the issues with the first game, or is it yet another exercise in frustration?
Anyone who paid even passing attention to E3 last year would have heard the press fawning over a certain new innovative title called Scribblenauts. Upon release, though, sketchy controls coupled with poor item interaction left many feeling like the game had seriously let them down. In fact, it took our annual “Biggest Disappointment” award quite handily. I’m here to tell you that not only has 5th Cell fixed the problems I had with the original, but they’ve also made some key innovations that look to make this game far more enjoyable than the first.
One of the points that Brittany Aubert, the associate producer on Super Scribblenauts, made certain to get across was that the entire development team paid very close attention to the criticisms made concerning the first game. They know exactly how people felt about the game, and it sounds like they were pretty committed to making the necessary changes.
I know it’s the thing you’re looking for, so I’ll get it out of the way right now: you’ll be able to play the entire game with d-pad controls. It’s not the default method (the game retains its “tap to move here” control method as the default setting) but you’re free to bring up the menu and change to d-pad controls at any time you like.
The addition of d-pad control isn’t the only change made to the controls, though, as the default control method has also been modified. Now when you tap the screen your character will start moving, jut like before, but now he’ll stop when you lift the stylus up. So now, even if you do accidentally move instead of grabbing an object, all you need to do is lift up the stylus to avoid an untimely end.
Now for the next big change made to the series: adjectives. According to my handy dandy dictionary, an adjective modifies a noun or pronoun by describing, identifying, or quantifying words. It also usually precedes the noun or the pronoun which it modifies. So, for example you could say the awesome, cool, handsome editor is writing about Super Scribblenauts. This give you an unheard of level of freedom with creations. Classify something as angry and it will attack you, classify something as scared and it will promptly run away, classify something as green and it will….well, be green. Additionally you’re allowed up to 100 characters per item, meaning that you can use as many adjectives as you want as long as they equal less than 100 characters long in total.
Anyone worrying that the variation in level design would suffer as a result of the added words can rest assured. The game will include 120 levels by the time it releases, providing plenty of opportunities to mess around with the engine. The advanced starites will also be making a return, at least in some of the levels. The advanced starites are, of course, starites earned by playing through a level multiple times using different items, and they seem to be geared more toward the more skilled Scribblenauts player. The playground title screen will also be around, it’s essentially a sandbox that lets you mess around with whatever you wish. Theoretically you could play this game for hours without ever getting past the title screen.
Overall Super Scribblenauts looks fantastic. 5th Cell have done what more developers should do: they listened to fan feedback and implemented a series of meaningful changes in the sequel. On top of that they made some awesome changes that no one could have expected, and I know that being able to combine any number of colors, sizes, and other properties together is an idea that has me absolutely giddy with excitement.
