S&S; Review: Scribblenauts Unlimited

Title: Scribblenauts Unlimited
Format: Wii U, 3DS, PC(reviewed) 
Release Date: November 20, 2012
Publisher: Warner Bros Interactive
Developer: 5th Cell
Price: $29.99(PC), $39.99(3DS), $49.99(Wii U)
ESRB Rating: E

Scribblenauts has to be one of my favorite new IP's to be released this gen, it took a brilliant idea and turned it into a great franchise.  Scribblenauts Unlimited took everything from the previous games, and made it better and prettier. 
Story and Presentation:
The narrative begins with a pretty in depth backstory into Maxwell's parents, and how he and his 40+ siblings came to be.  The story manages to grab your attention pretty quickly, thanks to some wonderful narration by a youthful young lady.  Maxwell goes off one day with his sister, and they come across a beggar who asks for help.  Maxwell happily obliges him and creates an apple from his notepad, what the beggar didn't know was that it was a rotten apple.  The poor man was so angry, he decided to put an evil curse on Max's sister that continuously turns her into stone.  Max pulls her to his brother Edwin's barn to seek help, Edwin tells Max that he needs to collect Starites to save his sister from becoming a statue.  The narrative turns out to be one of self-discovery, in using his magical notepad for good and not for mischievous purposes.  It fairly simple, but it managed to be the perfect setup for getting those creative juices flowing.  Besides the narrator, there really isn't much voice talent in the game.  There are some comical pleasantries the characters you come across will exchange, similar to the language of the Sims.  The soundtrack is great, the music is calm and chilled, allowing you to freely think without feeling rushed or pressured.  The music is definitely one of the strong parts to the game.  The graphics have been greatly improved, seeing how the original game was on the DS, the graphical leap to the PC and Wii U was a dramatic one.  The game's storybook presentation is one to gaze to at with awe, the small screen of the DS just doesn't compare to the large HD screens you can now play it on.  It seems each element of the game was either drawn or painted, the game also has a ton of color in it.  The different environments are all highly detailed and offer a ton of variety to them.  These are the same charming visuals you know and love, just the fact that its on a bigger screen makes it all the better.
Core Gameplay:
The name Unlimited is the perfect fit for this game, you can truly write anything you want and it will come to life before your very eyes.  The game is still in the basic framework from the originals, you need to help the people you come across you ask of it.  Simple tasks like entertaining a bored boy and giving a man an education are just a few of the wide array of undertakings you'll come across.  You can literally customize everything you create with various adjectives, this creates a lot of cool opportunities to complete a certain task.  This game was built with the creative person in mind, but the game leaves a lot of room for silliness and shenanigans to be had.  If you want to give a guy a tattered suit and a bike to help win over his love, you can certainly go that route.  The goal is to collect as many Starites as possible.  The newly added Object Editor allows you to alter any object in the game, you can change the way they sound, and even how they move and behave.  Its a cool addition that gives players the ability to create and manipulate their world however they wish.  The is really strict on vulgarity and cursing, you won't be able to create distasteful objects.  Don't expect to conjure up alcohol or narcotics either, I know a few people who tried that when they first put in the game.  Since I played this on the PC, I wasn't able to use Nintendo's first party characters like Mario and Link.  If you have the option of choosing between the three options, the best choice would be the Wii U version.  The PC versions still gets the job done, giving you that classic feel of Scribblenauts, just not on a mobile platform.  
Final Thoughts:
Scribblenauts Unlimited is the best one yet, the endless number of options and objects you can create will keep you coming back to the game.  Your imagination is your only tool, if you can think it, you can create it.  The game makes it's HD debut, and it made a great leap, the visuals have never looked so clean.  The long wait was worth it, this game will surely please veterans of the originals, and will certainly bring in new fans.
S&S Rating: 8.75/10 @whatsPlay