Review by: Danielle Riendeau

The most awesome dictionary in the world becomes your puzzle-solving weapon of choice in Super Scribblenauts, 5th Cell’s incredible follow-up to the brilliant but flawed original DS title. With a huge range of puzzle stages and a new adjective system, this is the most creative and addictive DS game I’ve played all year.

A flying polka dot bathtub – that was the first thing I “created” once I got my paws on a copy of the game. That should go a long way in showcasing just how welcoming 5th cell is of players inventiveness, general wackiness and overall creativity. You’ll need every ounce of your brain’s ability to come up with outlandish objects and creatures to finish the game, which is an absolute delight from start to finish.

Upon starting up the game, you have a chance to simply conjure things up on the title screen or go ahead and play the stages – my advice is to have a ball making things before you even play the “game” proper. From here, you’re whisked to a very cute level select screen (stages are arranged into “constellations” of individual levels) and allowed to dive in. Each stage contains a discreet puzzle for you to solve, using only the power of your noggin’ (and your notebook).

You play as Maxwell, the keeper of said magical notebook – which you’ll use to type in people, places or things on a special keyboard screen. The solutions to each puzzle consist of creating the right things – sometimes in the right order, and often with the correct adjectives assigned. The pen is mightier than the sword indeed – especially when that pen can rustle up a sword (or better, a spiked, magical rainbow-striped sword) as fast as you can type.

One early puzzle presents you with a cast of characters waiting in line at a game store (a soldier, a rockstar, a witch, a bodybuilder, etc.) – and you need to give each one something that they’ll leave the line for. Another tasks you with creating a “haunted house” scene for a horror film, and yet another asks you to find the “missing link” between different objects/animals, a sort of visual analogy test.

It’s the breadth and variety of puzzle types that makes Super Scribblenauts truly shine. Not only is every stage mechanically different from its predecessor, but the themes change as well. Referencing African jungles, medieval castles, military boot camp, lunar landings, national parks and absolutely everything in between, the scope is impressive and the scenery never boring. While it’s true that there are a few puzzle types that repeat from time to time, you’ll never feel as if you’re doing the same thing twice.

It doesn’t hurt that the stages are brilliantly designed and cleverly arranged. The “A-ha!” triumph of reaching a solution always feels close by, and a brilliant hint system (you pay for new hints with currency earned from completing puzzles and using new words) is implemented perfectly. The clues give you just enough to figure out the puzzles without taking the magic away from satisfying “Eureka!” moments.

It’s a very funny game by design, allowing for the sort of anarchic humor that players create for themselves. It’s just plain old fun to make weird and hilarious creatures, and everyone who gives the game a shot will come away with a favorite story of how they conquered a particular level with something like a giant purple hippy van or an angry spotted pterodactyl. It’s a structured playground for the right brain, and a hilarious free space for freedom of expression.