Game: Super Scribblenauts

Developer: 5th Cell

Release date: October 2010

The concept of the original Scribblenauts that debuted at E3 2009 really blew my mind.  It was a game that allowed you to type whatever you wanted and poof! the object would appear on-screen ready to be interacted with.  Due to a number of control issues the game did not successfully execute where it should have.  Super Scribblenauts leaps ahead of its predecessor with improved controls, adjectives support, and better levels.  The most exciting controls update allows you to manipulate Maxwell’s position (including walking and jumping) on-screen with the D-pad and action buttons; you are no longer forced to use the stylus and touchscreen to make him move.  The addition of adjectives greatly increases the number of objects that can be spawned into the world.  In the first game you could easily produce a “pogo stick”.  In the sequel you now spawn an “angry armed metal pogo stick.”  (That’s right–you can assign more than one adjective to an object.)  As you can see in the demo above, the angry pogo stick will annoy and bump into you.  By adding a “protective metal box” to the environment, it will protect you from the pogo stick.  So in other words, objects can enhanced with artificial intelligence by adding an adjective before its name.  With the addition of thousands of adjectives, the game now supports over a whopping trillion different objects you can spawn.  The only restrictions you have in spawning an object are inappropriate words and the 100 character limit.

With over 120 new puzzle-oriented levels to play through, tighter controls, and the ability to make all kinds of objects with adjectives, Super Scribblenauts will likely fulfill that promise of bringing unique gameplay on a portable platform when it releases later this fall for Nintendo DS.