Review by: Brandon "Space Monkey" Cackowski-Schnell

It seems like a natural fit, to take a successful drawing and platforming game from the DS and move it to the Wii, home to plenty of successful platformers and controlled with a controller that works like a pointer. Such was the thinking behind Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter for the Wii and while some of the translated elements are right at home on this platform, the game stumbles in plenty of key areas making for an experience that will try the patience of young and old gamers alike.

The game's story takes place between the original game on the DS and the DS's sequel. Items have been disappearing from the Raposa's village and they beseech The Creator (that's you} to provide them with a hero and get to the bottom of the disappearances. Like with the DS version you'll be drawing a lot which makes it unfortunate that the drawing is such a mixed bag. The game comes with a variety of tools, things like stamps and shape tools so that you can create relatively involved creations. However, even with all of the tools at your disposal, the bottom line is that using the Wiimote as a drawing device requires an incredibly steady hand. Having the slightest bit of control over your drawing is nigh impossible making it so that you have to rely on most of the precreated templates and stamps for your creations. Add to this the terribly long loading times every time you open up the drawing tool and the end result is not wanting to take part in one of the key aspects of the game.

Once you've created your avatar you're off to the platforming, after you travel through the Raposa village, that is, which brings us to another patience straining aspect of the game, namely the pacing. The Raposa village is pretty vanilla and can only be navigated in the same 2-D side scrolling way as the platforming levels. This results in you having to run and jump all the way through the village to get to the door that leads to the current platforming levels and then running all the way back through the village upon completing the level just to talk to someone, turn around and head back the way you just came. It's an unnecessary waste of time and one that will no doubt strain the patience of folks just looking to make with the jumping. While in the village you can take part in one of four sports, playable with up to two players, however these sports were clearly a secondary consideration and aren't worth spending any more time with than needed to satisfy one's curiosity.

The platforming sections have a great visual style and offer a lot of cool add-ons to your character such as a monkey tail for swinging and climbing claws for climbing however the platforming itself seems imprecise, especially compared to the DS version. Maybe my platforming skills have dropped off of a cliff in my old age, but I got frustrated with the platforming in this game more times in 30 minutes than I did in my entire time with the DS version. Along the way you'll run into plenty of places to draw game elements such as platforms and elevators and little visual touches however the long loading times again rear their ugly heads making you dread seeing those dotted lines indicating your magic pen is needed.

One of the platforming bright spots is the action drawing sections. Unlike in the DS version, on the Wii the action drawing is implemented, real time, in with the platforming. So you may come to an area that requires you to draw a makeshift see-saw and then drop a drawn block on one end to propel you through the air to get more coins and extra lives. Or you'll use the sections to draw ramps for your vehicle while you're driving. The action drawing sections work really well and help to liven things up, however they can sometimes be hard to use along with the platforming especially in faster paced levels.