Scribblenauts was one of last year’s most talked about and hyped up games. The idea was simple: a game that let’s you do whatever you want, spawn nearly anything you like and solve puzzles in any number of ways was an exciting prospect. However, while Scribblenauts was a great game, it wasn’t without its flaws and quirks. Once the initial novelty wore off, you were left with a great idea but with wonky execution.

The second time around though with Super Scribblenauts, 5th Cell has listened to the feedback of the fans, improved on what they created just last year and have fixed basically every problem that anyone could have had with the first game.

Super Scribblenauts again puts you in control of the intrepid Maxwell. Again Maxwell sets upon his adventure with little reason to explain why, there’s little story to explain what’s going on, but there isn’t a need for one. This is Scribblenauts after all. There are 120 puzzles this time around with the levels split between the classic platforming levels from the first game and, the biggest change to the game, all new Adjective levels. That’s the big addition this time around, adjectives.

Yes, now you can spawn things modified with adjectives. For example, instead of just spawning a dinosaur, you can spawn a yellow dinosaur, or even a metal dinosaur. This fundamental change to the game means that solutions require more thought. You can’t just beat the puzzles with the biggest, powerful or easiest solution. Also forget about just spawning a jetpack and flying away with the Starite. The game is actually quite strict on the adjectives used in puzzles.

While the addition of adjectives is brilliant, they’re really only useful on the specific Adjective stages. However you can use them on the regular levels. The new Adjective stages are more brain teasers than anything, with some stages requiring you to think about colour blending and mixing foods to get different dishes. Some of the stages are more open-ended and will for example require you to determine what items you would need to start a party with.

Once you finish a stage you’re then challenged to go back and complete it a second and third time; you’ll have to be very smart here as you’ll need to use a different set of items for each attempt. Sometimes though you will struggle to find a solution as the game is very picky about what solutions are correct for the puzzles. For those finding things hard, there is a hint system; 3 hints for each stage and which will cost you the in-game currency every time you use them. Again, even though there are 3 hints for every puzzle, they can be very vague and not much help. However both of these cases are rare and most puzzles can be solved with common sense, as the majority of the game is easy.

Although all is not perfect with the adjective system. Sometimes certain adjectives similar to what’s required in the answer are not recognised, and the censor also plays foul with simple words like "bloody" not allowed to be used. Those damned vampires, they’re bloody!

The other big addition to the game this time around is +Control Pad support. The old style touchscreen controls are still there if you want them, but you won’t be using them after sampling the delight of the +Control Pad. Maxwell now moves where you want him to, not where he wants. The controls are also ambidextrous, so left and right handers can play straight out of the box. However with the new Adjective levels added to the game, the movement controls do not actually get used a whole lot, far less than the original game in fact. While on the platforming stages they are used and work well, most other stages only need Maxwell to move to the Starite. Of course, the touchscreen is still used for moving and interacting with objects in the game world and this aspect of the game has been also been improved greatly. The physics system for the game has been improved significantly too with items no longer acting like weightless blocks that can wack out at any minute. Boulders don’t shake around on top of switches—they sit down hard, huge objects like houses don’t flinch at random times and the placing of things like bridges and ramps works much better. It just feels a whole lot tighter.

Outside the main game there is a level and puzzle editor. Custom levels can be shared over local DS wireless and uploaded to the internet to share with the world. However the editor itself is one of the most complicated and complex things I’ve seen outside of WarioWare: DIY. Though considering the nature of the game they’ve done a great job to make it as easy to use as it could possibly be. You’ll want to be really dedicated to get the most out of it; it’s mainly a feature I think most will leave alone or just use download the levels other people make.

Super Scribblenauts retains the same charming look as the first game - in fact you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart. While most of the menus are different, the majority of the game isn’t. The variation in the items you can spawn has improved but it’s in the same style. Which isn’t a bad thing as such as the game looks great. The game’s audio, like the visuals, is mainly the same as in the original but with just enough new stuff thrown in to make you notice a difference.