Are you looking for a new party game to play with your friends and family? Scribble might be the game for you. Scribble is similar to Pictionary in that you are given a word and you have to create a drawing based on that word. The other players have to guess what that word is based on your drawing. Only you can see the word on the gamepad. This game brings Pictionary to the digital age. Instead of using paper and pen you use the gamepad.
There are multiple gameplay modes designed with more than 2 players in mind. In fact, most of the game options require at least 4 players. Scribble has about 2 game modes where there is a 2 player minimum. Using the TV and gamepad is a must. When it is your turn to draw use the gamepad and create your drawing there based on the word given. The other players look at the TV to guess what your drawing is. I am not the best artist in the world so it was harder for my party to guess my drawing. But the game is a lot more fun when you aren’t the best artist. It gives your party a chance to make fun of each other’s drawings. It also brings a new level of difficulty to the game.
Scribble is one of the few games on the Wii U that put the gamepad to good use. The inclusion of the gamepad doesn’t feel forced or awkward. There are about 6 modes in the game: Versus, Elimination, Teams, Barricade, Tug-O-War, Free Doodle, and Word Creator. In Word Creator, you can add new words to the game that might not be in the 1500 word vocabulary of the game. You can also create themed sessions of the game in Word Creator such as Pop Music, Movies, etc. Free Doodle is the only single player option where all you do is draw. Free Doodle mode didn’t appeal to me all that much. It was kind of boring and seemed like you would only like it if you like to draw. In Versus you get a point each time someone guesses your drawing correctly. It is every man for themselves too.
In Barricade each person is split up into teams either red or blue. Each team picks a letter tile when it is their turn. Each letter tile has a different color. Upon selection, each letter represents a different category. A is for activities, and so on. When it is an individual’s turn on the team they will get a specific word related to that category that they must draw. Even though the gamepad says, red team pick your tile you don’t really get to select any tile you want. The tile is already picked for you and circled. For this mode, I don’t feel that the directions were explained all that well. It’s confusing at first on how you actually win and what the point is.
In Tug-O-War each team takes turns drawing but everyone guesses. The gamepad doesn’t state this but when a player has guessed correctly you touch their name on the gamepad for every mode. In this mode, everyone can guess. So if the other team guesses right they get a point. At the end of your turn, the Tug-O-War picture comes up displaying two stick figures representing the red and blue teams. Whichever team has the most points wins the Tug-O-War and the game. In Elimination, if nobody guesses your drawing correctly you are out of the game. The last man standing wins. In some modes, if the difficulty is too hard you can change it to easy. You can also use custom words in some modes if you want.
The modes that I liked the best were Tug-O-War and Elimination. Those modes seemed to offer a bit more than just drawing and guessing what it is. They took the whole Pictionary theme of the game up a notch. Some features of the game could have been explained better. Instead, you are left guessing as to how some features work. Scribble is too simplistic. After awhile you can easily get bored and want to play something else with a group of friends. If would have been better if there were more 2 player modes.
On the plus side, people of all ages can play Scribble. There is some sound in the game as well such a crowd cheering when a person guesses right. But Scribble might not appeal to everyone. The reason being that not everyone likes to draw, and the game can be too simple most of the time. There isn’t enough variety to keep your party entertained for long periods of time. It’s a fun game to play in short bursts. If you like games such as Pictionary or Draw Something then Scribble is the perfect game for you.
REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Nintendo Wii U code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.
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