Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter

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What’s the Story?

As the Creator in the world of DRAWN TO LIFE: THE NEXT CHAPTER, players must drawn and bring to life a hero to save the peaceful Raposa people. An evil force has been removing people, bridges, and other objects from their village. You are asked to replace these missing items by drawing them into the game. The core of the game involves taking your self-drawn character around in Mario-like platforming adventues, in which you jump, run, stomp, hit, collect coins, and solve light puzzles. Not only do you create your main character, but you will also draw the sun, moon, and the look and feel of your game. Moreover, you'll have to draw weapons, power-ups, vehicles, bridges, and more in order to complete missions. The game provides a simple drawing tool complete with stamps, brush sizes, zoom-in/out views on the canvas, and a broad palette of colors. The Wii remote serves as the pencil, or, for the DS, the you'll draw on screen with your stylus. in some instances in the Wii version, players will be required to fill in parts of the game in real time.

Is It Any Good?

Letting players actually draw and bring to life characters, vehicles, and other objects within a game is tremendously engaging. Even more fun are the moments where drawing is built directly into the game and you'll need create quickly during gameplay to complete an objective. Sometimes, you'll even have to draw while your character is in the air during a jump. The ability to create a custom look and feel to a game is a special experience.

The drawing using the Wii remote, however, is a bit inaccurate and tough to control. With the DS version, you'll have more control as you're using a styus. Ultimately, it doesn't matter, because almost anything you make will effectively animate, but it would be nice to have a little more control in the Wii version. Also, the platforming gameplay involves a significant amount of backtracking, but young gamers probably won't mind. Overall, the game's innovative concept and solid puzzles, platforming, and charming story and characters make this a great game that the target audience of kids will love.