The cold winter air swept through Maxwell's rooster hat.

It is a fine day for Scribbling, he whispered to himself. He whispered this before every mission.

Earlier in the day, Maxwell received this mission via a phone call. "Please help my husband," a woman cried, "because he is on a boat that is headed straight for an iceberg!"

Maxwell hesitated briefly, and asked: "Why doesn't he just turn around?"

The wife was silent. And then later, she was not silent. "Please, just help him."

That was then, and this was now. Maxwell stood on solid ground, and watched as the oblivious man headed straight for his doom. It was obvious to everyone else, but why not this idiot? Was he some kind of idiot?

Maxwell knew what he had to do. He had to make the man see fear—and what better way to make someone see fear than by summoning something terrible with your magic notepad? Sure, his methods might be a little extreme, but Maxwell was known for getting the job done—in a very extreme way.

Turning to face the man in the boat, Maxwell whipped out his magic notepad, and wrote the word that he was so well-known for writing.

KRAKEN.

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Scribblenauts is a DS game where you, the main character, can summon just about anything. Let me restate that: YOU CAN SUMMON JUST ABOUT ANYTHING, AS LONG AS IT IS NOT VULGAR OR TRADEMARKED OR ALCOHOL FOR SOME REASON.

The alcohol part confuses me, because there are a wide variety of firearms that you can summon. Like, all of them. Think of a firearm! Did you think of TREBUCHET? That's not really a "firearm", but it's in there!! YOU CAN SUMMON A TREBUCHET.

Summoning is done by means of a magic notepad, that you can access by tapping the "magic summoning notepad" button. You can actually write in names one letter at a time, which takes forever, or you can type them in with a virtual keyboard. This is the good way to play the game. The other way is the lame way.

Possibly one of the greatest parts of summoning items is that these items interact with each other. Cats chase dogs, God kills dinosaurs, and you can fire trebuchets at chocolatiers. These are all things that can actually happen in the game. And that all can take place at the title screen.

Yes, before you dive into the 220 levels of the game, you are dumped into a menu screen where you can access your magic notepad, and summon anything that is in the game's library. Squid? You got it. Stadium? Big, but sure. Kraken? Of course you can summon a Kraken.

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For The Peaks, this was considered good weather. Of course, it was only because there were volcanoes going off in the background for some reason. This balanced out the normally wintery atmosphere of The Peaks.

"My sheep", said the shepherd. "He is separated from all my other sheep."

"I don't see the problem," said Maxwell, lying. He already saw the problem, and he knew the answer. But he needed the shepherd to give him a reason.

"There is the small matter," said the shepherd (nervously), "of a wolf."

Maxwell nodded. He knew before he came that he would have to send a creature to a creaturegrave. This sheep needed saving, and he knew what he had to do.

Motioning for the shepherd to take a step back, Maxwell Scribbled something down in his magic notepad. Instantly, a large red seamonster fell from the sky, and landed atop the wolf. The two engaged in combat briefly, with the seamonster having the definite edge. As soon as the wolf was felled, Maxwell made another Scribble into his pad. Instantly again, the seamonster disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The shepherd watched in awe as Maxwell retrieved the small sheep by using a fishing rod that he appeared to have summoned in the same manner. Maxwell made his way over, and began to unhook the sheep.

"What was that?" asked the shepherd, bewildered.

"It's a fishing rod," said Maxwell.

"No," said the shepherd, bewildered and frustrated. "The other thing."

Maxwell smirked. "Do you mean…the Kraken?"

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The game features 10 different worlds, with 22 levels each. These levels are split into two different categories—"puzzle" and "action". Both gametypes involve you collecting a Starite, or Generic Video Game Collectible, to end the level. "Puzzle" levels focus more on accomplishing tasks, while "action" levels focus more on getting to the part of the level that happens to contain the Generic Video Game Collectible.

The game's biggest fault is its controls, although I don't seem to mind them as much as some reviews have indicated. In case you weren't aware, Maxwell's motion is all controlled by the touch screen. While you might think you know exactly how this works, you probably don't. If you tap somewhere that doesn't require you to climb or whatever, Maxwell will run to that location. You will probably send Maxwell off the edge of platforms several times, since you will be trying to control him the wrong way.

At least, I did.

However, that isn't really a big deal to me, since I can have Maxwell wear a JETPACK whenever I want to. YEAH THAT CAN HAPPEN. Let's spawn twenty jetpacks!

Oh, wait. Each level has an item "par", which is like golf, except not really. You can go over par, but you don't get as many points for that level, and you get less Ollars, which are like dollars, except not really. Ollars are used to unlock more levels and, I don't know, stuff from the unlockables menu.

Also, just to keep you from spawning twenty jetpacks, there's a limit on the amount of overall items you can spawn at once. Fortunately, you can delete items you've spawned whenever you want. This means you can dispose of that Kraken before he eats all of the sheep.

Did I mention that this game has a level editor?

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"How did your cat get on the roof?" Maxwell didn't need to know the answer. The answer was not important.

"I don't know, he just does it sometimes." The woman was worried. The woman wanted to pet her cat, to ease her tension, but the cat being on the roof was the source of her tension, which caused her to experience more tension.

This was serious. Maxwell could sense some sort of tension. He pulled out his notepad, and began to Scribble.

"Do you want the cat dead... or alive?" he asked, knowing the answer.

"Alive," the woman responded.

Maxwell paused. Alive?

He scratched out the K-R-A he had begun to write, and thought about it for a moment.

"Are you sure?"

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The game's level editor allows you to build a new level using the terrain from any level you've cleared. Then, it's really all up to you. Write in some objects, set their logic, and place a Starite wherever you want it. Then you can name it, set a clue, and send it to your friends.

Yeah, that's right, your friends. Scribblenauts doesn't have a level database or anything, so you have to exchange friend codes with people to get their levels. It's a little irritating, and is probably the other major flaw in Scribblenauts.

However, did you know that you can make a bear fight a pirate? And that the pirate WINS? It is clear to all of you that this is awesome.

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The room was too small. Maxwell didn't like it.

Too small for a Kraken.

In the corner, a child wept. Closer to Maxwell, a clown wept. Less close, but hotter, the child's mother wept hotly.

A lone piñata hung from a rope that was way too thick.

"He does not have a bat," the mother explained seductively. At least, Maxwell thought it was pretty seductive.

"Would you like me to give him a bat?" asked Maxwell, miffed. He was a Scribblenaut, not a Delivernaut. Delivernauts don't even exist.

The mother shook her head. "He will use it irresponsibly," she said, and Maxwell was sure that she winked at him. Or she blinked, and he couldn't see her other eye.

"Why is the clown crying?"

"He has a computer science degree, but he is merely a party clown."

Maxwell nodded with understanding. He flirtatiously removed his notepad from his pocket. "Do you want your son dead... or alive?"

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In closing, buy Scribblenauts.

Labels: Nintendo DS, Reviews