GBAtemp game of the week - #65

[FAST6191]

GBAtemp book game club's edition 65 is the order of the day. The feature otherwise known as GBAtemp book game club forms one of a couple around here that we have that aims to highlight games worth having played but unlike some of the others where one of the staff of a guest reviewer will review a game this is more about those reading and participating in the club.
The GBA, DS and Wii will be the main sources of selections with the occasional dalliance with a console that the DS can run be our sources for most of this but on occasion we will stray from those and we will also try to note versions and previous entries on other systems. Those original three consoles have huge libraries of homebrew code, commercial game releases, examples of leaked beta code as well as increasing numbers of hacked titles.
The selection process itself will remain shrouded in mystery but our intention is not to have a glorified top games list as those have been done many times elsewhere and some of the games history might not remember so well have tried some interesting things or came from interesting circumstances. The end result of a selection process will typically be a single game but multiple related games in a franchise or theme might be the selection (possibly for a compare and contrast but not always) and certain games have interesting challenges/runs people have cooked up (sometimes even going so far as to hack the ROM to facilitate it) so they can feature as well.

#65 - Scribblenauts (NDS)

5th Cell, the developers of Scribblenauts, did not have a great deal going for them (even if they did make previous game of the week title Lock's quest) coming into this with a handful of mobile phone games to their name and the somewhat enjoyable Drawn to life which in some ways was the opposite of Scribblenauts. The premise was one that sounded like it was the result of an overeager new coder brainstorming session that had not yet had the good grace to collapse under the demands of such a project; what if the player was given the powers of a skilled computer user in a film/TV show and could summon whatever/whomever to aid in their task? With games usually being based around restricting the player and many notable styles of games such as text adventure and point and click adventure being at once some of the more open styles of game and some of the most annoyingly restrictive this was a big ask of any developer.
They actually managed to pull it off though with a dictionary big enough that most people did not feel too many restrictions and despite some questionable rope physics and character controls (should one have to try to put it in a genre puzzle platformer would probably be it) they made what probably should have been a tech demo into one of the more endearing games on the DS.

Cartoon 5th Cell's games were based on​

Actual gameplay​

GBAtemp release thread​

There was a further sequel on the DS that added adjectives and the game has been ported to IOS as well as a presently a sequel for the home consoles being in the works. In the spirit of the challenges/runs part that is part of the intro and seldom part of the selection itself try not to use the jetpack all the time. Anyway did 5th Cell manage to pull off the near impossible or is it just an illusion?

gbagotw should get you other links in this series

 

[Hadrian]

A very flawed game made irrelevant by it's sequel.

 

[Aeter]

A very flawed game made irrelevant by it's sequel.

This.
And the game gets pretty boring after a while, it's one of those games that okay to play when you have nothing to do, when you're in a train or such.
And I'm talking about the sequel of course, for the reason Hadrian mentioned.

 

[Deleted member 194275]

I disagree with @Aeter and @[member='Hadrian']

The game is deep, the developers only fail in put some dificult on it. It is obvious that has not replay value, because you already know the solutions, but this game is fantastic.

 

[Aeter]

I disagree with @Aeter and @[member='Hadrian']

The game is deep, the developers only fail in put some dificult on it. It is obvious that has not replay value, because you already know the solutions, but this game is fantastic.

This isn't twitter, you know. #gbatemp
And can you explain a bit more in depth what you mean.
Because all you're saying is the game is deep and lacks in difficulty, without giving any arguments as to why the game is deep or lacking in difficulty.

 

[yuyuyup]

It's pretty amazing the breadth of not only the item count, but surprise item interactions. Also, sambo = watermelon, although the developers explain "sambo" as the Ecuadorian name for "fig leaf gourd." But I still think they're kind of dumb for overlooking the racial implications.

 

[shakirmoledina]

its a good game but since it was made for the first time, they failed to see the future of it ie. what players will think after a while (of playing the game).

consider Assassins creed 1. The only flaw was repetitiveness but everything else was really fun and the storyline kept one going till the end. The next parts really tried to mix it up. AC2 was a brilliant game which got many awards bcz it learned from its flaws.

So, u cant say this game is flawed bcz t'was a new concept and still worked upon. Great game, get it if u havent.

 

[Dingoo-fan 32]

Had lots of fun with this game. It was a bit repetitive sometimes, but i think it was worth playing.

 

[LINK289]

I think it was one of the best decisions to add it to ios. Even though there weren't many levels it was still fun, and unlike the DS I always have it on my iPad instead of letting the cartridge collect dust. xD

 

[Hadrian]

So, u cant say this game is flawed bcz t'was a new concept and still worked upon. Great game, get it if u havent.

Well you can because they didn't bother to sort out the controls which pretty much kills a lot of enjoyment for this game.

 

[The Milkman]

I disagree with @Aeter and @[member='Hadrian']

The game is deep, the developers only fail in put some dificult on it. It is obvious that has not replay value, because you already know the solutions, but this game is fantastic.

This isn't twitter, you know. #gbatemp
And can you explain a bit more in depth what you mean.
Because all you're saying is the game is deep and lacks in difficulty, without giving any arguments as to why the game is deep or lacking in difficulty.

>_> Are you aware what tagging is? Its used on this site my good man, not just Twitter.

What he means is that its not as flat a game as your making it out to be, its got tons of depth and many things to discover. If you play JUST the main story and use the more obvious of suggestions then ofcourse its not going to have much value. The developers even said that you can choose to do things "the easy way, or the FUN way." plus, theres a reason why theres a playground, and level editior, and massive dictionary. Like all games, its gets boring after a while, but its hardly shallow.

 

[Deleted_171835]

It was good but I never really completed it.

I remember the crazy hype this game got pre-launch, though.

 

[Bladexdsl]

check out the vids on youtube of some of the shit they made this game do and it worked it's hilarious!

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Ah yes, such a good game. But the controls were a major clusterfuck that fortunately its sequel fixed. Unfortunately I couldn't get into the sequel as much as I did the first game for whatever reason (despite the second game just being better in general) but both are still worth a look. Definitely put 5th Cell on the map.

 

[shakirmoledina]

So, u cant say this game is flawed bcz t'was a new concept and still worked upon. Great game, get it if u havent.

Well you can because they didn't bother to sort out the controls which pretty much kills a lot of enjoyment for this game.

I didn't think the game has bad controls. I only thought of it when people started speaking about it

 

[Aeter]

I disagree with @Aeter and @[member='Hadrian']

The game is deep, the developers only fail in put some dificult on it. It is obvious that has not replay value, because you already know the solutions, but this game is fantastic.

This isn't twitter, you know. #gbatemp
And can you explain a bit more in depth what you mean.
Because all you're saying is the game is deep and lacks in difficulty, without giving any arguments as to why the game is deep or lacking in difficulty.

>_> Are you aware what tagging is? Its used on this site my good man, not just Twitter.

What he means is that its not as flat a game as your making it out to be, its got tons of depth and many things to discover. If you play JUST the main story and use the more obvious of suggestions then ofcourse its not going to have much value. The developers even said that you can choose to do things "the easy way, or the FUN way." plus, theres a reason why theres a playground, and level editior, and massive dictionary. Like all games, its gets boring after a while, but its hardly shallow.

I meant the use of his @ in front of our user names, you might as well just quote the both of us or leave the @. And the '#gbatemp' I used was a pun in his direction.

You're generalizing when you say, "Like all games...". I think this game gets boring much quicker, because of the low replay value, just like lokomelo mentioned.

 

[The Milkman]

I disagree with @Aeter and @[member='Hadrian']

The game is deep, the developers only fail in put some dificult on it. It is obvious that has not replay value, because you already know the solutions, but this game is fantastic.

This isn't twitter, you know. #gbatemp
And can you explain a bit more in depth what you mean.
Because all you're saying is the game is deep and lacks in difficulty, without giving any arguments as to why the game is deep or lacking in difficulty.

>_> Are you aware what tagging is? Its used on this site my good man, not just Twitter.

What he means is that its not as flat a game as your making it out to be, its got tons of depth and many things to discover. If you play JUST the main story and use the more obvious of suggestions then ofcourse its not going to have much value. The developers even said that you can choose to do things "the easy way, or the FUN way." plus, theres a reason why theres a playground, and level editior, and massive dictionary. Like all games, its gets boring after a while, but its hardly shallow.

I meant the use of his @ in front of our user names, you might as well just quote the both of us or leave the @. And the '#gbatemp' I used was a pun in his direction.

You're generalizing when you say, "Like all games...". I think this game gets boring much quicker, because of the low replay value, just like lokomelo mentioned.

You cant quote two people at once on the moblie site and its faster to just type there name, why do you have a problem with him using the features that is built into the software that the owners payed for on these forums?

And your missing my point, I'm saying that the game isn't as shallow as your making it sound, if you just don't like it then you don't, but you cant just say it has low replay value because you think its boring.

 

[Aeter]

I disagree with @Aeter and @[member='Hadrian']

The game is deep, the developers only fail in put some dificult on it. It is obvious that has not replay value, because you already know the solutions, but this game is fantastic.

This isn't twitter, you know. #gbatemp
And can you explain a bit more in depth what you mean.
Because all you're saying is the game is deep and lacks in difficulty, without giving any arguments as to why the game is deep or lacking in difficulty.

>_> Are you aware what tagging is? Its used on this site my good man, not just Twitter.

What he means is that its not as flat a game as your making it out to be, its got tons of depth and many things to discover. If you play JUST the main story and use the more obvious of suggestions then ofcourse its not going to have much value. The developers even said that you can choose to do things "the easy way, or the FUN way." plus, theres a reason why theres a playground, and level editior, and massive dictionary. Like all games, its gets boring after a while, but its hardly shallow.

I meant the use of his @ in front of our user names, you might as well just quote the both of us or leave the @. And the '#gbatemp' I used was a pun in his direction.

You're generalizing when you say, "Like all games...". I think this game gets boring much quicker, because of the low replay value, just like lokomelo mentioned.

You cant quote two people at once on the moblie site and its faster to just type there name, why do you have a problem with him using the features that is built into the software that the owners payed for on these forums?

And your missing my point, I'm saying that the game isn't as shallow as your making it sound, if you just don't like it then you don't, but you cant just say it has low replay value because you think its boring.

I still don't see what the use of a @ adds, but let's just drop that shall we.
And you you didn't understand what I said. I said the game gets boring because of the low replay value, as was mentioned by lokomelo, not the other way around.
But I feel this kind of a useless discussion, so why don't we leave it at this and move on.