A wordsmith’s dream come true, Scribblenauts Unlimited is an action puzzle game fueled by the wild imagination of those who play it. As the plucky protagonist Maxwell in this game by 5th Cell and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, players are tasked with saving their sister from being turned to stone by helping others and earning the Starite pieces needed to break her curse. Helping those around you is as simple as writing words in Maxwell’s magical notebook and watching them come to life as actual in-game objects that interact with you, each other, and the environment around you. Aside from a few things like proprietary words and foul language, your creations in Scribblenauts Unlimited are only limited by your own creativity.
Using an upgraded version of the Objectnaut engine, players can come up with words and assign adjectives to them in addition to attaching them to other objects to get the job done. If this sounds like a rather boring English lesson to you, imagine having to rescue a cat out of a tree using your wits to conjure up a solution. You could easily write “ladder” in your notebook in order to create one and simply climb the tree to reach the cat, but that would be the easy way out. You could also create a “unicorn,” assign adjectives to make it a “flying pink hipster unicorn” complete with sunglasses and beret, and then zip right up to the cat’s rescue. The more violent types can create a chainsaw and chop the tree down, or a laser sword, or some plastic explosives. If you can dream it you can do, and that intuitive interactivity between conjured items is what gives this game near limitless replay value.
The items you find yourself rather fond of in Scribblenauts Unlimited can be saved in your backpack for later use, and even shared with others online. Friends can then modify the items and send them back your way, making for some potentially amazing brainstorming sessions. To really give your buddies a kick, try and surprise them by sharing one of the game’s many fun Easter eggs like Nyan Cat or a handheld video game system , the latter of which can change the game’s graphics to that familiar green Game Boy hue.
Those who happen to play Scribblenauts Unlimited on the Nintendo Wii U have a few added benefits over their PC counterparts, including the addition of items and characters from the Super Mario and The Legend of Zelda franchises. Wii U players will also be treated to HD graphics and a co-operative multiplayer mode.
Gamers who thoroughly enjoy highly imaginative titles like those found in the LittleBigPlanet and Drawn to Life series will absolutely love Scribblenauts Unlimited. Though, there is actual lighthearted narrative to keep the story moving, I often find myself playing for hours on end simply creating items and watching them interact with one another and the environment to comedic and often chaotic effect. Holy paladins, demonic books, flying monkeys, vampiric manticores, sparkling androids; it’s all up to you to see what you can do in the endless world of Scribblenauts Unlimited.
Scribblenauts Unlimited is available now on Nintendo Wii U and Steam.