Well, it’s been a while, but I finally went back to finish up the Scribblenauts series. The first three games were all pretty fun and this one added DC heroes to use as well. I was ready for the epicness that would ensue and this game even had an actual story mode, which was an added bonus. The story mode does come at the cost of the usual Starrite system, which is actually a big trade off, which I will certainly look at.

Maxwell has learned his lesson from his adventures in the older games. He now knows that his powers must be used responsibly. Unfortunately, he is transported to Gotham City along with his sister. He soon finds out that a doppelganger of himself is teaming up with various super villains and they intend to collect all of the starrites for their own purposes. Maxwell must team up with DC’s greatest heroes if he is going to stop the villains. Can Maxwell prove that he is the ultimate hero and save the multiverse from annihilation? Only one way to find out!

The gameplay is similar to how you would typically expect here. You have your notepad and what you create is limited only by your imagination. The new addition is that you can create DC superheroes to aid you in your quest to be the ultimate fighter. You must travel to each of the worlds and stop the villains who are causing trouble in each land. Each land will have citizens who are in trouble and need your help. When you solve the problem, you will be awarded with points that you can use to unlock future worlds and advance the plot. Each world has one main mission that you can complete right from the start to save the city. Eventually, you will make it to the final world where you can stop the ultimate evil. There are also some bonus missions where you view each hero’s origin story and try to help out as only you can.

As I mentioned, the story mode did come as quite a price. In this game, the missions in each world seem to be unlimited. As such, there doesn’t seem to be a point to actually helping the citizens. It’s possible that you actually complete each world eventually. If so, that helps to erase this complaint. Otherwise, it’s just not as fulfilling as it was in the other games. I suppose you can say that it increases the replay value, but I prefer when the game actually has an ending. Games like Pac Man could be considered to be the exception, but at the same time, I would like to have an ending as well. This way, you can keep on earning points I suppose, but I wish that each world only had a set amount of missions. The Starrite collecting was a classic.

Also, the gameplay seems to have gotten a little worse in this title. There are numerous glitches that are present and you are very likely to encounter some of them as you play the game. There were many missions that were instantly completed as you approached them and others that were lost for no reason. It’s partially due to the fact that your creations continue to move once you leave, but also because the game seems to have not been tested quite as much as the others. I’ve never really minded bugs and glitches. If anything, they serve to enhance the experience. Still, it does show that the gameplay wasn’t focused on as much as you would expect.

The graphics are nice as always. Scribblenauts is one of those games that isn’t meant to look really good of course like the Lego series. You could grab the graphics from Mario 64 and make a case for it looking better. It makes sense since it’s hard to imagine how you could make a lot of graphics for each items that Maxwell could create. It would simply take too long, which is why cardboard cutouts/sprite looking objects are what it used here. It works for the game and everything still looks rather clear. It’s nice to see the chibi heroes helping out as well.

It’s also nice to see Maxwell’s development through the games. He can finally talk now and we have learned that he is actually a wise kid. He knows how powerful his abilities are and he takes great pride in doing the right thing. He’s certainly come a long way from Scribblenauts Unlimited. He only makes one real mistake here and it can barely be counted as a mistake in the sense that he created a doppelganger. His real mistake was not remembering that he had made the drawing or checking it before he attached it to the globe. Ah well, in the end he learned how to fix this error.

The final boss was interesting because it came at a good time. The game actually goes into the Convergence styled plot, which is cool. We got to see other realities and learn more about the universe. The final villain even found a way to take care of the Justice League rather easily. He simply didn’t count on Maxwell. The game is rather thorough on the amount of DC heroes that you can summon. I believe that there are about 200 pages worth with each page having 6-12 characters on it. That’s certainly an impressive amount and the game did its research.

Some parts of the review likely seemed negative, but this is a fun game through and through. It’s rather short and you can probably beat it in a day or 2, but you’ll have fun exploring the worlds. Making this crossover was certainly a lot of fun and it would be cool if they did one with Marvel someday. It wouldn’t be quite as Epic without Superman of course, but I’ve always been a big DC fan.

How does this game stack up against the previous three? I think it’s safe to say that the original three were better games in how they handled this. The gameplay is still smoother than the first game though, but I miss the mission select. The guest stars and story combo does manage to propel this game though. Each game excels in its own area. The first one was the most difficult by far and really helped to stretch your imagination. The second game perfected the controls and probably offered the most complete experience. It was long and packed with a bunch of fun and difficult levels. The third one erased all of the difficulty, but had the big screen novelty to back it up. You could finally run around and help people out. It still had a core mission system with it and was a blast to play. Finally, this one had a real plot. So, all of the games had their strengths to be sure.

Overall, If you played the first three Scribblenaut games, then you need to add this one to your collection. If you haven’t played any of the other titles yet, then I still recommend picking this one up whenever possible. It’s a short game, but a very fun one and you may actually learn more about the DC universe. Summoning up about a dozen versions of Supermen to fight by your side can also be entertaining. Once you pick this game up, you can also bulk up your Wii U collection and see where it ranks. This may be my final Wii U game for a little while so I certainly savored the moment. My next stop is in PS3 land…for now!

Overall 7/10