DS3 game recommendations

[Anonymous]

My DC got a long-time coveted DS for X-mas with Pokemon Black & White. It has more reading than we expected and can be frustrating for him.

Anyone have a game recommendation for a struggling/non-reader as well as something that might not be too difficult from an OT perspective. TIA.

[Anonymous]

We are a big fan of Super Scribblenauts.

The first game DS ever owned--bought when he was in 2nd grade, at his request. I cannot tell you how much it helped his spelling and reading (although it is not a "spelling" game per se).

He loved loved loved it. I don't think we added a second game cartridge for another 6-9 months.

From the Amazon.com write-up:

Super Scribblenauts is a unique puzzle/action-platforming game for Nintendo DS/DSi in which solutions to challenges faced in-game literally take shape out of the words and phrases that the player spells out. Loaded with a memory of tens of thousands of nouns/objects, that can now be modified via a new adjective system, the game allows players to bring to life virtually any physical solution that they can represent in words, making for a creative gameplay experience not to be missed.

Cultivate the Power of Your Words

Our hero, the Starite collecting Maxwell, returns in Super Scribblenauts, the word-driven puzzle and action platformer that allows you to succeed in off-the-wall scenarios using solutions that are as weird, wacky and varied as your vocabulary. The game contains 120 brand-new levels, which like its predecessor are filled with either puzzle-solving or action-oriented challenges which are solved/survived by players who utilize their vocabularies to conjure up usable objects that appear as they are typed out on the DS' lower screen. Super Scribblenauts, recognizes the tens of thousands of words/objects that the original game could, as well as hundreds more on top of that. In addition, it now also recognizes adjectives, which makes for a myriad number of word combinations that translate to many, many, many more possible combinations of all shapes, sizes, color and condition related solutions usable in-game.

The game puts you in the shoes of Maxwell, who must solve puzzles and overcome obstacles with the help of--well, virtually anything you can think of. The crux of Scribblenauts is the notepad, where you can write anything that comes to mind--be it a ladder, a tiger, a gun, a panda, and so on--and see it (usually) come to life in the game world.

This, as you can imagine, opens up a wealth of creative possibilities. One early puzzle in the game tasks you with making a lion go to sleep. A possible solution is to write in "moon," which summons a moon and turns the sky dark, allowing the lion to sleep. Another solution is to summon a tranquilizer gun and shoot the lion with it. You can even write in "sleepy meat" and feed it to the lion, who will become sleepy in turn.

This is where adjectives come into play. From what I've heard about the first game, you could only summon objects, which in itself is a powerful idea. But here, you can give life to the craziest corners of your imagination: a vampiric, purple, striped, floating, friendly panda is not out of the question. Whether that panda will give you any use toward any of the game's 120 levels is another issue, but it's something you can play with endlessly in the game's "sandbox" title screen.

The story levels themselves range from genuinely brainteasing to somewhat uninspired. The aforementioned "sleepy lion" level is an early standout, while another level in which you have to summon specific types of food is merely so-so. The game shines when it encourages you to discover strange solutions, but it falls when the answers are limited to obvious outcomes.

That's why the title screen sandbox is such a gamesaver. When you're itching to stretch your creative muscles, or to test the game's dictionary, you're free to summon all sorts of things and see how they play out in the game's world. You can create, erase, and create all over again to your heart's content. Put Santa Claus on a friendly winged velociraptor, if you wish.

Scribblenauts is flexible in that its levels are all bite-sized affairs, easy for those playing on the go, and yet there's enough of a pull from the core creative gameplay that you can sit for hours and still not get bored. Even so, those 120 levels will go by quickly, so Scribblenauts certainly isn't an epic game. But it's thankfully extended by the option to replay most levels in "advanced" mode, where you have to complete a level three times in a row by using different objects each time. You can re-use the same objects from the very first time you played the level, so really you're coming up with two new solutions, not three, but that probably makes it easier on the brain in some instances. I just wish I could turn off the hint pop-ups in advanced mode--I don't need to be told to do the same objective three times in a row.

Overall, Scribblenauts is a great, fun--and funny!--game. I'm giving it four stars because it stands as an extremely solid title, but a few issues (like only being able to share custom levels with friends) prevent it from the legendary greatness of a five-star game. Even so, this is one of the coolest games for the DS, and it's suitable for all ages. It's even a great time for parents to bond with their children by solving puzzles together and giving suggestions to the youngsters on what to summon. Highly recommended.


Sorry so long--we've obviously enjoyed this game!