SCRIBBLENAUTS UNMASKED

One of the constants in the Scribblenauts series has been that the portable versions aren’t as good as the console versions. It's not like they're bad. They're just better on consoles. And surprisingly, not even Batman can change that. Must be Bat-fleck. So less than a year after the fantastic Scribblenauts Unlimited, we get Scribblenauts Unmasked. And the idea sounds promising, right? This is basically just Scribblenauts combined with the iconic characters of DC Comics. And actually, it's kind of like the LEGO games how they can give almost any franchise that LEGO charm.

Scribblenauts does the same thing with DC in Unmasked. It’s, just you know, Scribblenauts kind of had enough charm on its own. Now, I'm not saying this is a bad idea but isn't there something a little contradictory about this? Putting the restriction of one particular franchise on a game that's about not having restrictions? I mean, it's cool, but it also feels slightly out of place.

Prior Scribblenauts games were designed for a very broad audience. But this one? Mostly just for DC fans. Which makes it the first Scribblenauts game to limit itself? So if you've never played a Scribblenauts game, it's a really simple premise. You have this magical notebook, and anything you write in it...just appears. And it's literally almost anything. Write marshmallow, you get a marshmallow. But recent Scribblenauts games took it a step further.

So you can write giant purple marshmallow, and holy crap, the game gives you a giant purple marshmallow. And you use this power to solve puzzles. In fact, Scribblenauts is really just an elaborate word game, only with 2D character sprites. And freaking...large yellow vampire monsters. And once again, that liberating, addictive interactive thesaurus gameplay is the foundation of Scribblenauts Unmasked. But again, this is also the first Scribblenauts game to limit itself...and its audience. See, the draw here is the concept.

 It's only an awesome idea if you know the characters. And I mean know the characters. This freaking thing is a DCencyclopedia, with over 2,000 items and characters. I mean, you don't just have Catwoman. You get to pick which decade's Catwoman. And that’s awesome...unless you don't give a crap about Catwoman.In which case, you should watch Batman Returns. And you know, it's weird, but...the game also seems a little more vague and unclear than prior versions.

Like, I was stuck way more in this game than prior Scribblenauts titles, so the puzzles feel a bit more obtuse than they did in Unlimited, for example. Which is kind of a bummer. In fact, honestly...unless you're a huge DC fan? There’s no reason to buy Unmasked if Unlimited is sitting next to it. And certainly not for the 3DS, at least. Believe it or not, playing Scribblenauts in HD makes huge difference. Try some difference here.

 The game looks gorgeous on the Wii U, like an interactive cartoon. And yet again, the handheld version also loses some features that are on consoles. So...Defang, loves Scribblenauts, doesn't have a Wiki Unify you fit all three, you'll love Scribblenauts Unmasked. Otherwise Unlimited is always better than limits.