Earlier this week, we discussed Portal 2 coming to gaming near you. That's awesome and all, but for those of us not into Portal (surprisingly few of us...), the sequel to our "Best Indie Title" and "Most Original Concept" should excite. Nintendo Power's April issue revealed some details, and we're going to run down what we want to see.
According to Nintendo Power, a huge amount of words (10,000 or more) will come into play. And we thought they had every noun/etc. before! Thing is, it seems adjectives will be fair game this time around - albeit, we're not quite sure how. Personally, I'd love to see an army of blue moose roaming around. Or giant moose. That's the Canadian in me.
Beyond that, I think more memes and cultural items are absolutely necessary. Longcat was one of my absolute favourite summons in the game. So why can't we have babies bidding on the stock market? Or Gene Simmons' Tongue?
Part of me wants to see "combinations" made more thorough. Sure, Knight + Horse makes sense. But how come there is no "polymerization" like in Yu-Gi-Oh. Fusing a Minotaur and a Hippo could be all kinds of fun. Or I'm losing it. Nonetheless, there all sorts of options out there to really expand upon the already robust engine offered by Scribblenauts.
Unlike the great database of words, the controls need all kinds of work. After reading even one review, I hope 5th Cell realized the issues. Spotty controls of our hero dampened any amount of fun that could have been had, particularly as the game progressed.
On the other hand, I hope the title screen stays exactly the way it was. Part of the fun. I'd be lying if I told you I had more fun in any other part of the game. Randomly summoning up anything and everything, without having to worry about that par system, made the game for me. Imagine my fun if I get giant moose.
Which reminds me - they're taking the par system out (at least, partially). Why we would want to make a video game like Scribblenauts into golf is beyond me. However, I'd love to see a score awarded for originality, obscurity, and lack of items used. Sure, you can summon a bird. I can summon a condor. Kids won't know the difference, while those of us with a higher vernacular will get more out of it.
My biggest wish is for the "stages" - split between action and puzzle, is to have some sort of loose plot. Sure, I loved rescuing kitties and avoiding ghosts when the controls worked. But none of it made any kind of sense. It was just, for lack of a better explanation, Maxwell "being". Existing. Why did this boy have the power that all of the others did not? It seems like a gold mine for potential stories, even rather general ones, to tie things together. And 5th Cell didn't comply. Perhaps they will reveal a little more about our character with a name this time around. We all want to know why he wears a Rooster Hat, after all.
Finally, we want this to come soon. Nintendo Power tells us that Scribblenauts 2 is coming this fall. No, it's not the Guitar Hero effect. It's re-using what worked (the bulk of the game) and scrapping what didn't. Hopefully Scribblenauts 2 outdraws the original. I know I'll be buying it upon release. How about you?
