Scribblenauts Showdown | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Shiver Entertainment |
Publisher(s) | Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment |
Series | Scribblenauts |
Platform(s) | Nintendo Switch PlayStation 4 Xbox One |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Party |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Scribblenauts Showdown is a party game developed by Shiver Entertainment and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in March 2018. The game is the sixth installment in the Scribblenauts franchise, created by 5th Cell. Showdown sees players playing minigames against other players or CPUs.
Showdown received "mixed or average" reviews from critics. [1] [2] Critics criticized the game's "lack of imagination" [3] but praised the game's sandbox mode for being more alike to prior Scribblenauts games. [4]
Scribblenauts Showdown's main mode, Showdown, has players competing against opponents in different minigames. Prior to starting a minigame, players must select a noun that they will use to try to win the game. Before selecting a word, the game spins a wheel, which will decide what letter the player's words will start with. [5] In Showdown mode, players play on different boards, akin to Nintendo's Mario Party series. [5] The game also has a versus mode, which is similar to Showdown, except it's a 1v1 and doesn't take place on a board. [5]
The game's sandbox mode is more like prior Scribblenauts installments and sees the player trying to solve NPC's issues by creating objects using a magical notebook. After solving an issue, players are rewarded with "Starites", which can be used to buy apparel in the customization menu. [5] The sandbox mode has 8 different worlds and supports up to 2 players. [6]
The game supports up to 4 players. Players can also face CPUs. Players can customize their characters in the "My Scribblenaut" menu. Players can unlock customization options for their avatars by spending Starites, which are unlocked after winning in the versus or Showdown mode, or by clearing missions in the sandbox mode. [5]
Prior to its official announcement, Showdown was leaked by the Game Software Rating Regulations and Entertainment Software Rating Board, after the two boards publicly released the game's ratings. [7] Scribblenauts Showdown was officially announced by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment in January 2018. Development for Showdown was headed by Shiver Entertainment, making it the first in the series not to be developed by the original creators, 5th Cell. [8]
Showdown was released on March 6, 2018, in North America for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. The game was later released in Europe and Australia on March 9. [9]
Aggregator | Score | ||
---|---|---|---|
NS | PS4 | Xbox One | |
GameRankings | 51% [10] [lower-alpha 1] | 67% [11] [lower-alpha 2] | N/A |
Metacritic | 47/100 [12] [lower-alpha 3] | 64/100 [1] [lower-alpha 4] | 66/100 [2] [lower-alpha 5] |
Publication | Score | ||
---|---|---|---|
NS | PS4 | Xbox One | |
Edge | 3/10 [13] | N/A | N/A |
Eurogamer | 5/10 [4] | N/A | N/A |
GamesMaster | N/A | 64/100 [14] | N/A |
IGN | N/A | 7.3/10 [15] | 6/10 [16] |
Jeuxvideo.com | N/A | 10/20 [17] | 10/20 [17] |
Nintendo Life | [18] | N/A | N/A |
Nintendo World Report | 4/10 [19] | N/A | N/A |
PlayStation Official Magazine – UK | N/A | 8/10 [20] | N/A |
PC Games (DE) | 8/10 [21] | 8/10 [21] | 8/10 [21] |
Pocket Gamer | [22] | N/A | N/A |
Push Square | N/A | [23] | N/A |
GameSpew | N/A | N/A | 8/10 [24] |
The Sydney Morning Herald | 4/10 [3] | N/A | N/A |
On Nintendo Switch, Scribblenauts Showdown received "generally unfavorable reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic, [12] although it received "mixed or average critic reviews" on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. [1] [2] Critics criticized the game's "lack of imagination", [3] with Edge thinking that Shiver Entertainment couldn't "conjure up a decent party game", despite the game's "great source material". [13]
Marco Esposto of IGN Italy praised Showdown, calling it a "classic" party game. Esposto praised the game's avatar creation process for being "simple" and the game's "attractive" graphics, but criticized the low amount of minigames, citing that they quickly felt "repetitive". Ultimately, Esposto gave Showdown a score of 7.3/10. [15]
The game's minigames received mixed reception among critics; Robert Handlery of GameSpot called them "boring", [25] Gav Murphy of IGN Nordic stated that some of them are "awesome", [26] and Stephen Tailby of Push Square called them "hit or miss". [23]
The sandbox mode was praised by critics for being more alike prior Scribblenauts installments. [4] Daan Koopman, reviewing Showdown for Nintendo World Report, wrote that the mode is "sadly the biggest standout" in the game. Koopman praised the mode's animations and interactions for being "adorable" but criticized its controls for being "uncomfortable" and its missions for being "bland". [19]
Cars is a 2006 adventure racing game published by THQ. The game is based on the 2006 film of the same name. It was released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation Portable in June 2006, with versions for the Xbox 360 and Wii released later that year. The Wii version includes functionality geared towards its Wii Remote controller and was a launch game for the system. Taking place after the events of the film, the player controls the protagonist Lightning McQueen as he participates in the new racing season with the end goal of winning the Piston Cup for the first time in his career, while also racing and training with the local community of Radiator Springs.
Xiaolin Showdown is a beat 'em up and fighting video game based on the animated television series of the same name. It was released for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Xbox on November 14, 2006, in North America and in Europe on June 29, 2007. The game was later ported over to the Nintendo DS on November 28, 2006, in North America and in Europe in February 2007. Players are able to play as the Xiaolin Apprentices. The game can be played with up to four players locally.
Carnival Games is a video game for Wii, Nintendo DS and iPhone. It was the last game published by Global Star Software, before it was absorbed into Take-Two Interactive.
Scribblenauts is an emergent puzzle action video game developed by 5th Cell and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the Nintendo DS. The game was released in 2009 in all regions except Japan, and in 2011 in Japan as Flash Puzzle: Maxwell's Mysterious Notebook by Konami. It is the third Nintendo DS video game made by 5th Cell, the first two being Drawn to Life and Lock's Quest. The objective of Scribblenauts, as implied by its catchphrase "Write Anything, Solve Everything", is to complete puzzles to collect "Starites", helped by the player's ability to summon any object by writing its name on the touchscreen. The game is considered by its developers to help promote emergent gameplay by challenging the player to solve its puzzles within certain limitations or through multiple solutions.
5th Cell is an independently owned American video game developer founded in 2003 as 5th Cell Media, LLC. led by Jeremiah Slaczka and Marius Falhbusch. The company is most well known for creating the Drawn to Life and Scribblenauts series.
Scribblenauts Unlimited is a puzzle sandbox video game developed by 5th Cell and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for the Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, Microsoft Windows, iOS and Android. The game was announced during Nintendo's E3 2012 press conference on June 5. It is the fourth title in the Scribblenauts series, as a launch title for the Wii U console.
1-2-Switch is a 2017 party video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It was originally released as a launch title for the system. The game uses the system's Joy-Con controllers, with players facing each other performing various minigames. By the end of 2022, it sold over 3.74 million copies, making it one of the best-selling games on the platform.
Super Bomberman R is an action-maze game developed by Konami and HexaDrive and published by Konami. The game was first released worldwide as a launch title for the Nintendo Switch in March 2017, and later for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in June 2018. Part of the Bomberman franchise, it is the sixth installment of the Super Bomberman series and the first game in the series to be released in twenty years. It is also the first Bomberman entry in the franchise to be developed for consoles following the dissolution of original series owner Hudson Soft in 2012.
Cars 3: Driven to Win is a 2017 racing game developed by Avalanche Software and published by Warner Bros. Games. The game is based on the 2017 film Cars 3. It is the first Disney game without the involvement of Disney Interactive Studios since its closure on May 10, 2016, and the first game developed by Avalanche Software since acquired and re-established by Warner Bros. from Disney. The game was released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Wii U, on June 13, 2017, in North America, in Europe and Australia on July 14, 2017, and in Japan on July 20, 2017.
Tropico 6 is a construction, management and political simulation game in the Tropico series, developed by Limbic Entertainment, published by Kalypso Media, and announced at E3 2017. Originally intended for a 2018 release, Tropico 6 was released on Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux in March 2019, and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in September 2019. It was released for the Nintendo Switch in November 2020, and on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in March 2022.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is an action role-playing sandbox game developed by Square Enix and Omega Force, with Square Enix publishing it. It is the sequel to Dragon Quest Builders, and was released for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 in Japan in December 2018 and worldwide in July 2019, for Windows in December 2019, and for the Xbox One in May 2021. The game shipped over a million copies by August 2019 and received generally favorable reviews from critics.
Just Shapes & Beats is an action rhythm video game developed and published by Canadian indie team Berzerk Studio. It was released on May 31, 2018, for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch, February 24, 2019, for macOS and Linux, May 10, 2019, for PlayStation 4 in the US, and May 30, 2019 for PlayStation 4 in Europe, Russia, and Australia. It was also released on June 30, 2020, for Stadia, and on May 31, 2022, for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. In this game, players move a colored shape to the beat of background music and dodge pink shapes.
Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon is a 2018 platform game developed and published by Inti Creates. It is a companion title to developer ArtPlay's 2019 game Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and was conceived to fulfill the promise for a retro-style accompaniment to Ritual of the Night after its Kickstarter campaign exceeded crowdfunding goals. Curse of the Moon follows Zangetsu, a cursed swordsman hunting down demons for revenge, as well as three other playable characters named Miriam, Alfred and Gebel. It features an 8-bit aesthetic and gameplay style similar to Castlevania games on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), particularly Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse (1989).
NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 is a sports video game developed by Saber Interactive and published by 2K, and is a spin-off title of the NBA 2K series and a part of the Playground Sports series. The game was released for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One on October 16, 2018. It is the sequel to the 2017 video game NBA Playgrounds. Like its predecessor, NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 is an arcade-style basketball game. The game featured improved AI over its predecessor. Originally scheduled to release on May 22, 2018, the game was delayed to October 16 due to Saber finalizing a publishing deal with 2K.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted is a 2019 virtual reality survival horror video game developed by Steel Wool Studios and published by ScottGames. It is the eighth main game in the Five Nights at Freddy's series, following Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria Simulator, and the ninth installment overall. It presents itself as "The Freddy Fazbear Virtual Experience", produced for the fictitious corporative entity Fazbear Entertainment to help improve its public image after a series of debilitating lawsuits, following several incidents and disasters that allegedly occurred at their various locations.
Worms Rumble is a 2020 action game developed and published by Team17. As a spin-off of the long-running Worms series, the game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 in December 2020 and for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S in June 2021.
Scribblenauts is a series of action puzzle video games primarily developed by independent studio 5th Cell. The series is owned and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The first game in the series was titled Scribblenauts and was first released on September 15, 2009, in North America, exclusively on the Nintendo DS. Since the release of the first game, five other Scribblenauts games have been released, in addition to two compilations and two comic adaptations.
Cake Bash is a party video game developed by High Tea Frog and published by Coatsink. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia on October 15, 2020, later releasing on November 19 for the Nintendo Switch. In the game, players control cakes competing against each other in order to be chosen by a customer.
It's astonishing that Shiver couldn't conjure up a decent party game from such great source material.
A fun distraction with some word-based cleverness, but it's far less substantial than it should be.
Clever and charming.