Scribblenauts Showdown combines wordplay and animation
Kidsday reporters, from left, Christian Marmo, Brendan Ciarlo and Marissa DiPietro, testing the Scribblenauts Showdown game in Manhattan on Feb. 19, 2018. Credit: Newsday / Pat Mullooly
We recently had the opportunity to play the highly anticipated video game Scribblenauts Showdown. The game can be played with one to four players on Xbox, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. We tried it on the Switch. An average game can range from 15 to 45 minutes.
Scribblenauts is similar to a virtual board game. The objective is to be the first player to get to the last box. When you start to play the game, you see that it combines wordplay and animation. Because of this, you have to really pay attention when you are playing!
Each player begins on the first box and is given six cards. Players choose the card that is most useful. Some cards have movements and others have mini-games. During the mini-game round you compete with the other players. After you win the round, you get the ability to move forward.
Our favorite aspects of the game were: the competitive mini-games, the sense of energy, and the fact that you had to use your brain in order to move ahead.
The game offers a few modes: Sandbox (Players can create almost anything they can imagine), Versus (going head-to-head in special challenges ) and Showdown (using the game’s dictionary to outsmart their opponents).
Our only real complaint with the game was we disliked having to change the position of the joystick repetitively. Besides that the game is a lot of fun!
Scribblenauts Showdown is rated E, and we recommend it for ages 4 to 12. Our opinion is the game gets 3 out of 5 smiles, because we feel it is heavily based on the similar original Scribblenauts. All in all, it was a great trip and we would do it again in a heartbeat.
