In the classic film Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character hears someone whisper in a cornfield, “If you build it, they will come.” Oddly enough, that message can be applied to the quirky little DS title Scribblenauts, with a slight twist. In this case, it’s “If you write it, they will come.” Dogs, doctors, helicopters, blackholes, UFOs, sea monsters, even God — in this game, all of them will come if you write it down.

Scribblenauts is an action puzzle game in which you control a little guy with a red rooster hat named Maxwell. The main draw is that almost anything you type out appears in the game, which you can then use to solve a problem. Although vulgar words and proper nouns aren’t of course allowed, there are apparently tens of thousands of possible words in the game. Amusedly though, alcohol-related words are a no-no. I know the game is supposed to be kid-friendly, but come on — you can’t use the words BEER or RED WINE?

The game boasts 220 levels divided into nine stages. It’s further divided into two types of levels — puzzle and action — which you can toggle back and forth at any time. The puzzle levels tend to be easier and consist of you solving a particular problem. For example, you have to give a birthday boy something to break his pinata open. Action levels tend to be a bit more complex and have the same objective — to get to the starite at the end. The starite is also a reward at the end of the puzzle levels, but only appears when you’ve solved it. You can unlock more stages by earning “ollars” after completing each level.

If you’d really like to challenge yourself, try playing the completed levels in advanced mode. You must replay the same level three times in a row using different words each time. For example, in my earlier pinata example you can use the words BASEBALL BAT, GOLF CLUB, and a SWORD. However, note that I said “words”, rather than items. The game allows you to cheat a bit in advanced mode by using synonyms. For example, you can use the words BAG and SACK and get the same item. Related words are also allowed, such as ROSE and FLOWER. Synonyms are useful because some puzzles require a similar method of solving, such as swimming in deep water or kicking some sort of ball through a net.

Scribblenauts allows players’ creativity to shine. The wackier the solution, the funnier. After all, why shouldn’t you have God kill that giant octopus blocking your path to the starite? Or ride a magic carpet to fly across molten lava? But be careful though; sometimes the solutions can lead to unexpected (though often hilarious) results. For example, if you use a bear to defeat a wolf, that bear will turn around and come after you next! You can kick your imagination several notches higher by creating your own levels with the level editor. Simply choose a setting and start building. Unfortunately you can’t share your created levels with others a la LittleBigPlanet.

With a game that seemingly promotes ingenuity, it’s odd then that it has a par system in that you must complete levels by only using a certain number of words or less. You can still complete a level if you go over par, but you won’t get those much needed ollars required to unlock other stages. I often had to restart levels because I didn’t want to get penalized by going over par from making random objects.

With all the fun possibilities that can stem from Scribblenauts, it’s a real shame that the controls are absolutely terrible. The problem starts right at the word input screen. Although you can either type or write down a word with your stylus, you’re better off typing. I’ve played other games that require you to write down a response (e.g. Brain Age) and very rarely had issues with writing recognition, unless I wrote it sloppily. But Scribblenauts refuses to recognize even the most simple four-letter word (FOOD) written neatly. Still, since you can type it out, it’s not that big of a deal.

The real problem of the game lies when controlling Maxwell. You use the stylus to move him back and forth, and often times one small slip of the stylus can lead him falling off a cliff, falling off a plane, or falling in the water. There’s nothing more frustrating than being so close to completing a level and failing it simply because the horrible controls led Maxwell to accidentally blow himself up. And while controlling him as he’s riding something is relatively smooth, it’s particularly difficult to control him on the magic carpet. You have to drag the stylus several times just to get him to move, and often it and he end up crashing on the ground. I don’t understand why we can’t just use the D pad to control Maxwell, rather than have the D pad control the camera settings.

Furthermore, in some cases you may need to tie a rope on an object (or a leash on an animal) and have Maxwell drag it. This often leads to an exercise in frustration since the four nodes on the object/animal/person that you need to attach the rope  to are so tiny that it takes several tries for you to succeed.

In spite of its problematic controls and other issues, Scribblenauts is still a fun, charming, and amusing game. It’s not every day that you can create a black hole to swallow a school of piranhas, use a bee to scare a bully, or conjure a lightning storm to burn down a wood crate. Yes I’ve done these in the game; now let’s see what you can do.

Grade: B