Drawn to Life

 Review

Common Sense Media says

Draw it and it's part of the game -- wow.
greenON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
yellowPAUSE: Know your child; some content
may not be right for some kids.
redOFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
not for kidsNOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age.

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Quality
 
Sometimes media can be age appropriate but a real waste of time. Our star rating assesses the media's overall quality.

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Parents say

Not yet rated

Kids say

What parents need to know

Parents need to know that this game has only mild cartoon violence, about on par with what kids will see in Mario games. Players stomp on baddies and shoot things to make them disappear. At its heart, this game is a platform puzzler in which you get to draw your own main character and loads of other stuff. But don't be afraid if you can't draw: The game helps you if you need it, and even the simplest drawings end up animating well.

  • You are the Creator and in that role you drawn a hero for this world. You also direct your hero to help others.
  • You can stomp on baddies, and you are asked to draw your own weapon. When you use it, characters that you shoot at just disappear.

What's it about?

In DRAWN TO LIFE on the Nintendo DS, you draw your hero that comes to life in a world you help create. The game revolves around saving a village of creatures called Raposas from the evil doings of a character named Wilfre. He has torn pages from the Raposas' Book of Life, the source of all things that exist in their world, and scattered them across the land, causing things like the moon, sun, and stars to disappear. You become the Raposas' hero and Creator.

You use the DS stylus to draw within a template and color your creations, and your drawing is incorporated into the game and animated. You'll be asked to draw more than 150 things that become part of this world, including walking platforms, weapons, and vehicles. The game is also a side-scrolling platform puzzler with lots of moving platforms to navigate, coins to collect, and baddies to defeat. As Raposa Village comes back to life and expands, you will find Mini games to play, including snowball fights and wishing wells.


Is it any good?

 

What makes this game so good for kids is that they are in control of what their gaming world looks like and they can modify or customize it as they play, becoming vested in the outcome of the game. They also can influence the mood of the game with their drawings. A dark ominous cloud creates a feeling of foreboding, whereas a bright blue cloud creates a happier place to play. You can also create a silly mood by drawing zany things.

While the opportunity to draw so much of the game makes Drawn to Life special, you don't need to be an artist to play. The animation is quite good, no matter whether you draw a stick figure or a detailed puppy dog. You get to watch your hero walk, run, and jump throughout the game. This is the most unique Nintendo DS we have seen to date -- don't miss this one.


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What families can talk about

Families can talk about what makes this game special. How did your ability to design your main character affect your involvement in the game? Did you ever go back and redraw something because you didn't like the mood created by your earlier drawing? Would this game have been better if you could draw more things? What would you like to see in a sequel?


This review was written by Jinny Gudmundsen
Teen, 16 years old
April 9, 2008
 
I recomend this to younger kids age 7+!
Ok, i know may be a little old for this but when i first played the game it was boring,but when i got into it...it went to easy to medium to hard and thats what i like about it,but there was a sad part of the game when the Mayor dies and his daughter Mari has to be more responsible to take care of the village and at the very end the Mayor appears as an angel watching over his daughter!

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 12 years old
April 9, 2008
 
Drawn to Life allows you to let your imaginations run free
Drawn to Life allows you to let your imaginations run free with its concept of allowing you to draw and colour in various objects found in the game. *://voiceofagamer.wordpress*/2008/03/27/drawn-to-life-review/ Before you play, you firstly need to draw and colour yourself. You can choose different templates or draw yourself by your own. You are able to draw objects such as clouds, sleds, a submarine, glider, wings, ice cubes, etc. There is always something new to draw in each level. The drawing/colouring interface has various colours available for you to select, stamps to use, change the drawing point larger/smaller, fill option, eraser, can zoom in/out, etc. The game revolves around a book of life which was taken by Wilfre from the village some time ago. With the book of life in Wilfre’s possession, Wilfre creates dark monsters which eventually rule over the village. The village is now deserted, taken over by darkness and it’s up to you to restore the village locals and collect the pages torn from the book of life. Whilst in a level your character can jump, slide, shoot snowballs acorns, ground pound and eventually fly when you draw yourself wings. In each level there is black shadow on some houses, on the floor, on lamp posts, etc. If you are hit too much times by the enemies you start losing your clothes and eventually lose a life. As you progress through each level, there are 3 villagers to rescue, 4 pages of the book of life to find and some secrets. Once you’ve completed a level, you return to the village to view the people return at which point there are small quests in the town to do before the next level, for example, clearing shadow clouds so that the villages you rescued can return to their homes/workplaces, planting trees, investigating a crime, having a snowball fight with the villagers, etc. You are able to purchase the extra features you have collected in each level by visiting one of the shops in the village. The features include more colours, patterns and stamps for when you are drawing, music and games and different abilities for your character. The only faults I can find is the explanation of your movement, such as when learning to ground pound you aren’t told that you need to hold the A button while pressing down or when learning how to fly you aren’t told that if you press A you can fly up. The other slight issue I had is that in the village no menu would appear if you wanted to say quit the game. If you like drawing, colouring and some game play then this game will suit you as you get to see your creations in the game. In one level you draw a rocket and then you use that rocket to fly and shoot down enemies. It’s been one of those games which I can’t really find many faults with.

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 14 years old
April 9, 2008
 
Drawn to Life allows you to let your imaginations run free
Drawn to Life allows you to let your imaginations run free with its concept of allowing you to draw and colour in various objects found in the game. *://voiceofagamer.wordpress*/2008/03/27/drawn-to-life-review/ Before you play, you firstly need to draw and colour yourself. You can choose different templates or draw yourself by your own. You are able to draw objects such as clouds, sleds, a submarine, glider, wings, ice cubes, etc. There is always something new to draw in each level. The drawing/colouring interface has various colours available for you to select, stamps to use, change the drawing point larger/smaller, fill option, eraser, can zoom in/out, etc. The game revolves around a book of life which was taken by Wilfre from the village some time ago. With the book of life in Wilfre’s possession, Wilfre creates dark monsters which eventually rule over the village. The village is now deserted, taken over by darkness and it’s up to you to restore the village locals and collect the pages torn from the book of life. Whilst in a level your character can jump, slide, shoot snowballs acorns, ground pound and eventually fly when you draw yourself wings. In each level there is black shadow on some houses, on the floor, on lamp posts, etc. If you are hit too much times by the enemies you start losing your clothes and eventually lose a life. As you progress through each level, there are 3 villagers to rescue, 4 pages of the book of life to find and some secrets. Once you’ve completed a level, you return to the village to view the people return at which point there are small quests in the town to do before the next level, for example, clearing shadow clouds so that the villages you rescued can return to their homes/workplaces, planting trees, investigating a crime, having a snowball fight with the villagers, etc. You are able to purchase the extra features you have collected in each level by visiting one of the shops in the village. The features include more colours, patterns and stamps for when you are drawing, music and games and different abilities for your character. The only faults I can find is the explanation of your movement, such as when learning to ground pound you aren’t told that you need to hold the A button while pressing down or when learning how to fly you aren’t told that if you press A you can fly up. The other slight issue I had is that in the village no menu would appear if you wanted to say quit the game. If you like drawing, colouring and some game play then this game will suit you as you get to see your creations in the game. In one level you draw a rocket and then you use that rocket to fly and shoot down enemies. It’s been one of those games which I can’t really find many faults with.

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 11 years old
April 9, 2008
 
Drawn to Life allows you to let your imaginations run free
Drawn to Life allows you to let your imaginations run free with its concept of allowing you to draw and colour in various objects found in the game. *://voiceofagamer.wordpress*/2008/03/27/drawn-to-life-review/ Before you play, you firstly need to draw and colour yourself. You can choose different templates or draw yourself by your own. You are able to draw objects such as clouds, sleds, a submarine, glider, wings, ice cubes, etc. There is always something new to draw in each level. The drawing/colouring interface has various colours available for you to select, stamps to use, change the drawing point larger/smaller, fill option, eraser, can zoom in/out, etc. The game revolves around a book of life which was taken by Wilfre from the village some time ago. With the book of life in Wilfre’s possession, Wilfre creates dark monsters which eventually rule over the village. The village is now deserted, taken over by darkness and it’s up to you to restore the village locals and collect the pages torn from the book of life. Whilst in a level your character can jump, slide, shoot snowballs acorns, ground pound and eventually fly when you draw yourself wings. In each level there is black shadow on some houses, on the floor, on lamp posts, etc. If you are hit too much times by the enemies you start losing your clothes and eventually lose a life. As you progress through each level, there are 3 villagers to rescue, 4 pages of the book of life to find and some secrets. Once you’ve completed a level, you return to the village to view the people return at which point there are small quests in the town to do before the next level, for example, clearing shadow clouds so that the villages you rescued can return to their homes/workplaces, planting trees, investigating a crime, having a snowball fight with the villagers, etc. You are able to purchase the extra features you have collected in each level by visiting one of the shops in the village. The features include more colours, patterns and stamps for when you are drawing, music and games and different abilities for your character. The only faults I can find is the explanation of your movement, such as when learning to ground pound you aren’t told that you need to hold the A button while pressing down or when learning how to fly you aren’t told that if you press A you can fly up. The other slight issue I had is that in the village no menu would appear if you wanted to say quit the game. If you like drawing, colouring and some game play then this game will suit you as you get to see your creations in the game. In one level you draw a rocket and then you use that rocket to fly and shoot down enemies. It’s been one of those games which I can’t really find many faults with.

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 11 years old
September 27, 2009
 
A OK
Its goood i have the game and its hard on the Wilfre level dont get mad if keep tryin' you can do it! oh one thing creeps me out its when you rescue Heather (when you get to level called "Frostwind") she's weird but A OK!

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 10 years old
April 9, 2008
 
This game was pretty good. I liked that you got to draw your own stuff. This game was fun, you always have something to look forward to--like drawing new things.

Flag as inappropriate 
Parent of 8, 11, and 15 year old
April 9, 2008
 
Creative gaming!
My son is 8 and loves both his DS and drawing action heroes. This game is a perfect fit. I like that he is creating what happens, not just reacting.

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 11 years old
April 9, 2008
 

Flag as inappropriate 
Kid, 12 years old
February 2, 2010
 
HARD storyline.
Not even the older kids notice this my friends. the story line is WAAAY to hard. SOMEONE DIES mai friend. If your kid comes running to you, I aint gonna blame ya. This game is amazing. Fun, adorable gameplay. Fun, adorable, storyline. Until details hit you. There is ALOT of love in this game. (Yay marixjowee!!) But its not inappropiate. Its very sad though. :( Its fun and easy to draw in it, and the rolemodels are kawaii!!

Flag as inappropriate 
Teen, 16 years old
July 20, 2010
 
weird
You can make your character anything you want and name it anything uncensored.

Flag as inappropriate 

This review was written by Jinny Gudmundsen
Platforms:Nintendo DS
Available online?Not available online
Genre:Puzzle
Developer:THQ
Release date:September 11, 2007
Price:$30
ESRB rating:E for Mild Cartoon Violence

This review was written by Jinny Gudmundsen

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About our rating system
ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age.
PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids.
OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age.
Learning ratings
BEST: Really engaging, great learning approach.
GOOD: Pretty engaging, good learning approach.
FAIR: Somewhat engaging, OK learning approach.
NOT FOR LEARNING: Not recommended for learning.

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