I have Grand Theft Auto V, with its elaborate heists. I have Diablo III, with its button mashing fun. But, since yesterday, the one game I’ve wanted to play is Scribblenauts Unmasked. Because in some ways, this is the game I always wanted as a kid.
Some explanation is in order; Scribblenauts is a clever puzzle game series where you write out what you want on the screen and it appears. It’s famous for being able to anticipate even the most ridiculous and out there of ideas; you want to solve a puzzle with Cthulu, you got it.
Scribblenauts Unmasked is essentially that, with every single issue of Who’s Who tossed into the mix. Part of the reason I didn’t review this game yesterday is because, to be honest, I was doing what everybody else was doing and trying to break the game. This is a game where you can solve puzzles with zombie Batman, fancy Superman, and Harley Quinn in her classic look, and that’s just for starters; the number of characters you can summon is ridiculous. Although I have to admit I tended to solve my problems with Fancy Lobo, because Fancy Lobo is hilarious.
Oh, and did I mention that they’re all done in an adorable art style? Part of the fun is thinking of a character and then seeing what he’s been reimagined as. The art team on this game must have gotten combat pay, something that really comes to the fore with the Bat Computer, which is the single most exhaustive database of the DC Universe I’ve ever found. There are wikis from obsessed crazy fans that aren’t this detailed.
The game itself is more cute than challenging; you’re bringing cops donuts and buying Hawkwoman a plane ticket. And sometimes the AI has some quirks that can be frustrating; there’s a little bit of the old adventure game moon logic problem hiding inside this game. But in a game where you can summon eight different Batmen to beat the crap out of a zombie Joker, you’re probably not even going to notice.