Tag Archives: Emergent gameplay

Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Adventure Announced!

Hey Speed Readers,

Yet another awesome nugget of DC Comics Video Game news as Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Adventure has been announced for the Nintendo Wii U, Nintendo 3DS and PC.

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Described as a “DC Comics Encyclopedia” by the developers, 5th Cell, the game boasts over 2000 unique DC Comics superheroes and supervillains! In addition to the usual Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman offerings we’ve already seen a glimpse of members of the Flash Family (with cool props like the Cosmic Treadmill), Captain Cold and reportedly we will be able to play as 130 different Green Lanterns!

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While I’m not that familiar with Scribblenauts and it’s style of play, the concept is pretty simple; If you can spell it, you can use it. I’m sure some of the more colorful executions of this playstyle have obviously been omitted seeing as the game is rated “E10”.

In this side-scrolling puzzle-actioner you play as Maxwell who is tasked with collecting objects known as “Starites” of which a certain number are required to advance to the next level. In the vein of old school graphic adventure point and click games (like Monkey Island) just about every object in the game can be interacted with by clicking on it which opens up a myriad of options depending on what you are actively doing in the game. The key part of the gameplay however is the ability to utilize Maxwell’s magic notebook to summon items (or other characters) into the game to help you solve puzzles by writing the name of the object or character on the screen. Usually you are limited to 3 to 4 summons in order to solve a puzzle and the games “emergent” play style really requires you to exercise and hone your mental agility and think outside of the box.

Honestly it sounds like one of those games that sounds more fun than it seems, but the reviews don’t lie; this is the fifth in a series of an extremely well-received and award-winning franchise.  I remember being intrigued by the studios first effort in this genre, Drawn to Life, but never really following up on it due to a lack of a Nintendo Wii or DS. Unfortunately I still have yet to pick up either of those systems (or their next-gen counterparts) so it will really depend on just how cool this game ends up being (and how much in price these consoles drop) before I decide to take the plunge.

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While I’ve noticed a fair bit of New 52 pandering, from the looks of it I think we can also expect some traditional DCU love as well. Just in the Flash-themed picture from above we have the traditional Golden Age Flash, Kid Flash, Professor Zoom and Black Flash! With 2000 or so characters I think we can expect a lot more variety to come.

Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure is due out sometime this Fall and needless to say, Speed Force will be keeping a close eye on the development of this title. In the meantime you can check out the official trailer, HERE.

So who is already a big fan of Scribblenauts and can testify to it’s greatness? Anyone plan on picking up the games for the first time due to the presence of the DC Universe? Please let us know in the comments below.

Pictures courtesy of CBR.

Thanks for reading,

Devin