Preview: Super Scribblenauts

Last year at E3, the game press lost its collective cool over Scribblenauts. We suspect we're headed for another collective freakout with Super Scribblenauts. Last year, it was the audacious, impossible-sounding concept of thinking of any noun and summoning it to solve a puzzle. This year, we've all had time to become familiar with the concept -- but the fact that the sequel has been refined to fix the one problem the original game had might be worth the renewed enthusiasm.%Gallery-95592%

A new D-pad control scheme has been added to make the experience of moving Maxwell less frustrating. In addition, the stylus-based controls have been revised, such that you now swipe in the direction of movement rather than tapping at the destination. In either case it basically means you worry about what you're actually doing, instead of whether or not you'll be able to do them. And that means you're free to enjoy all the bizarro puzzles.

For those of you who found the previous bit TL;DR -- it's still Scribblenauts, but now it has better controls. Which means it has the potential to be the most wonderful thing ever.

The other new addition to the formula: adjectives. I took the opportunity to test several modified nouns in-game, and was delighted to find that most of them worked, and were really funny. For example: someone left a "Giant Bear" onscreen in a previous demo, and I dispatched it with a "Poisonous Fish." Then, based on advice from 5TH Cell's Marius Fahlbusch and Jeremiah Slaczka, I made a potion to impart an adjective on the bear corpse -- in this case, a "Flat Potion," which did indeed lead to a "Flat Poisoned Bear." Then, for good measure, I dropped a "Nervous Library" on top of the bear. The library danced back and forth awkwardly. But, of course, you've all seen a nervous library before.

I tried a puzzle in which I had to bribe each person in line for a midnight launch of Super Scribblenauts in order to reach the head of the line. A bodybuilder was easily sent away with a "Weight" (he didn't respond to my initial offer of "Oil"). An artist, I was told, would respond to anything artistic or art-related. So, I tried to lure her with a "Provocative Sandwich." I was told that "Provocative" could draw the ire of the ESRB and thus wouldn't work. This was one of two adjectives that the game didn't recognize, the other being "bulbous." Fear not, bulbousness enthusiasts, Slaczka hurriedly jotted a note down about that.