Topic: Scribblenauts Unlimited (Wii U)

[M.K.Ultra]

Scribblenauts Unlimited

Basic Info

• Released in 2012-2013 for Wii U and 3DS. Also released for Windows, iOS, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One
• Developed by 5th Cell and published by WB games
• This is the 3rd game in the series and the first for home consoles. This was also a Wii U launch window game

Review Info

• Received a 9/10 from Neal on NWR https://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/32558/scribblenauts-unlimited-wii-u
• Currently at 73 on Metacritic and ranks as the 109th best Wii U game. https://www.metacritic.com/game/wii-u/scribblenauts-unlimited

Price and availability

• Still available on the Wii U e-shop for $20https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/scribblenauts-unlimited-wii-u/
• New physical copies are valued at around $10 https://www.pricecharting.com/game/wii-u/scribblenauts-unlimited
• I ordered a new copy from eBay in February for just under $10 (shipping included)

Length of Game

• The average completion time is around 7 hours (any) or 12.5 hours (100%) https://howlongtobeat.com/game?id=8194
• I played pretty casually and it took me 9 hours 21 minutes to see the credits roll
• There are about 40 levels where you can collect the total 106 starites in the game (basic puzzles are 1/10 of a starite while more involved puzzles get you a whole starite)

Audio & Video

• The music is calm and pleasant
• The game has nice HD visuals with the same art style you see in the cover art

Gamepad

• The gamepad serves as a keyboard for typing the names of things you want to appear in the game or editing existing objects
• When Off-TV play is selected from the options, the gamepad speaker will play the game's audio
• The gamepad is also a UI for the object editor where you can customize objects with extreme detail

Play style

• The game is rated E 10+ and appears to be aimed at younger people or families
• The game encourages you to come up with clever or humorous ways to solve the puzzles and only occasionally was I unable to solve things the way I wanted
• You can usually pick the most obvious word and breeze past a puzzle if you want, but I found it more fun to challenge myself to find the most obscure object that would still work
• There is an impressively large lexicon of nouns and adjectives to draw from and if the object you want is not there you can pick from similar objects that are there

Final Thoughts

• I picked this game up based on its good reviews and my love of the Wii U. It is a good price and length and makes good use of the gamepad
• I had some real fun moments and enjoyed my time with the game, but I could not help but feel old and unimaginative playing it

[Order.RSS]

I had some real fun moments and enjoyed my time with the game, but I could not help but feel old and unimaginative playing it

Did you find yourself going back to the same 5-10 options which had proven to work, or are there incentives to keep trying new words and combinations?

[M.K.Ultra]

Did you find yourself going back to the same 5-10 options which had proven to work, or are there incentives to keep trying new words and combinations?

It was a little bit of both. I added the adjective "flying" to Maxwell quite a bit to reach the different puzzles. When I got fed up with some I would overuse the adjective "sleeping" on foes. I tried for the most part to always think of something new or novel. This may be why my playtime was longer than average. I would sit there for 5 minutes trying to think of some funny object to use rather than the obvious one. I think this would be cool if there was an audience to appreciate my creativity, but alas I was playing solo. Occasionally I would spend 5 minutes and come up with a great idea but then the game would not accept it and that was frustrating but those moments were surprisingly rare. I think the programmers did a pretty good job of connecting all the sets of objects with cool reactions.

One example stands out. There was a sheep and it wanted to fit in with the Dinosaurs. I spent a half hour with the object editor making it look, act, and produce reactions for a dinosaur and yet the puzzle was not solved. Then I just added the adjective "giant" to the sheep and it instantly worked. Like I said, that is the exception and not the norm in the game, but those moments sting a little.

[Kairon]

This was such a unique and clear concept. I can't believe the franchise is dormant now, and that 5th Cell is on life support

[M.K.Ultra]

This was such a unique and clear concept. I can't believe the franchise is dormant now, and that 5th Cell is on life support

Yeah, the recent Scribblenaut's Showdown was developed by Shiver and it's poor reception has not done the franchise any favors. On top of that 5th cell's mobile Scribblenauts and crowfunded Anchor's in the Drift were both cancelled.
http://cliqist.com/2015/11/25/anchors-in-the-drift-why-did-it-fail/

[Khushrenada]

A Reader Review?! That deserves a couple Honk!s!! (We've broken the English language!)

Nicely done. I feel you sheep example shows why I've shied away from these games. I just think I'd struggle to figure out what the game is asking for or would accept as a solution for a puzzle. I'd probably keep relying on methods that worked rather than trying to come up with creative answers that could keep failing. Still, I should probably give the games I've got a shot at some point since they don't seem to require a long period of play.

[M.K.Ultra]

A Reader Review?! That deserves a couple Honk!s!! (We've broken the English language!)

Nicely done. I feel you sheep example shows why I've shied away from these games. I just think I'd struggle to figure out what the game is asking for or would accept as a solution for a puzzle. I'd probably keep relying on methods that worked rather than trying to come up with creative answers that could keep failing. Still, I should probably give the games I've got a shot at some point since they don't seem to require a long period of play.

Thanks for the accolades Khush. Hopefully the site is keeping a record of these honks somewhere.
Definitely gives the game a try if you have it. Do it when your feeling especially "creative"