Drawn to Life (Nintendo DS) - Review by Chris

Introduction

Many people feel that the age of the platforming genre of games has come and gone, and it's certainly true that we're seeing fewer and fewer titles released in this specific genre. Finding an innovative way to move the genre forward isn't the easiest task and as such, some of the more recent platformers have simply been 'me-too' attempts to tide fans over. Teaming up with THQ, however, upstart developer 5th Cell believe they have come up with an innovative way to inject some excitement into the genre again, with their title Drawn To Life which see you physically draw out many element of the game, including the main character. Is this really a fresh take on the genre or does it stray too far outside the lines?

Gameplay

Drawn To Life sees you as the player taking to two specific roles: first, that of the Creator, who is God to a species known as the Raposa and secondly as that of the Creator's Hero. Through the opening cutscene, you'll take your place as the Creator and design the world in which you'll go on to play in, albeit only in a figurative way as these early designs simply go into the Book of Life. After this, you'll hear the plight of the Raposa, as they ask for help in bringing back their town to prosperity after it was blighted by darkness after Wilfre, a formally respected member of the Raposa, attempted to create his own beings in the Book of Life, ultimately consuming him and much of the world in black ink and darkness. Calling out for a hero, you set about drawing someone who can help save the Raposa's village and stop Wilfre once and for all.

As the title of the game suggests, Drawn To Life is all about designing characters and objects and seeing them being brought to life in the confines of a platforming game. As the game's hero sent by the Creator to save the Raposa's town, you'll have to free the world from dark ink and rescue the inhabitants of the down from Wilfre's clutches. To do so, you'll head into a series of themed stages, ultimately hoping to locate the missing townsfolk but also in the hope of finding missing pages from the Book of Life, which Wilfre had torn up. Each stage has a total of 3 townsfolk to rescue and 4 pages to be found and as such, this is far from your linear platforming experience. While the typical running and jumping aspects remain, you'll often have to explore the spacious levels and find these necessary people and objects before you are able to progress further into the game. It adds a little more substance to what is otherwise some very basic platforming.

Away from the main efforts of the game, which will see you cover around 15 expansive levels and have you clocking up many hours, you'll use the Raposa town as a hub, running around and completing small quests or buying upgrade items in the town's stores once they open. They main deviation from the norm in the game, however, and the point which makes the game stand out is that of the design studio. As already stated, you create your character and various object in the game by drawing within vague outlines on the touch screen. Creating your character gives you the option of either using a template or starting completely from scratch, with the end result coming to life in the game for use, similarly with the objects, although there are no templates for these. It's a very unique premise and makes for a more personal game than many others give in the genre as everyone who plays will ultimate design different heroes and different objects in the game. Slight multiplayer options are included that allow you to trade designs between friends over local wireless, which is a nice touch. Plentiful hidden objects and unlockables, such as new colour palettes and character abilities, extend the playtime further and definitely makes for a weighty experience.

Controls

Controlling the game requires a mixture of both button input and stylus input on the touch screen. The buttons control all the major movements and actions within the game, such as running, jumping and punching while the touch screen is used, as would be expected, for all of the drawing elements and for getting rid of the black ink that is covering certain areas of the levels. It's a combination that isn't without its issues as in many areas, you'll have to decide between fighting off enemies or getting rid of the black ink with the stylus and at times, it can create a rather flustered setup as you'll always have to have the stylus at hand to be ready for use. But this issue aside, the game controls well enough for the style of gameplay, with only some minor collision detection issue that make a few platforming sections trickier than they really are.

Graphics

While the town that acts as the game's hub area is far from spectacular, much of the game is impressively designed. Levels, while not pushing any limits, look nice and distinct and make use of a varied colour palette to highlight some of the design work with has gone into some of the scenery, with some very nice sprite work at play here. Character models are a step above everything else however, with the pre-made characters which inhabit the town looking fantastic, both in their small sprite forms and in their larger forms when using the shops and services in town. They're all animated extremely well, giving them a sense of being living beings within the game's environments. Similarly, the enemies you'll encounter look fantastic, with a great deal of variety between what you'll see across the game's levels and a high level of detail crammed into each one.

Kudos do have to be given to the artists for their work on the main character. While there are pre-made templates to use for making your hero, you can also create your own and while it may not look as detailed as the pre-made models, which is another plus point for the game, the work that has been put in to make sure they are animated perfectly is extremely impressive. Even the most obscure character design, or indeed the most obscure object design as they follow the standards of animation closely, is handled with such expertise that you'll be taken aback at how well it has all been done.

Sound

There's an eclectic mix of music packed into the game, with each track within the diverse catalogue carrying a rather upbeat tone to juxtapose the otherwise darkness of the game's story. This of course changes over the course of the game as the world gains back its vibrancy but even with the parallel gone, the music maintains a high level of intrigue and continues to be set at a level that you'll no doubt find yourself humming along to due to the chirpiness of everything you'll hear. It's by no mean a grandiose soundtrack but what is does is make for a very pleasant setting and for some excellent listening.

Dual screen

The touch screen gets a good workout in the game, with all of the drawing aspects thankfully done through use of the stylus. While it may be difficult to draw something that rivals the intricacy of the work of the game's artists, you'll still be able to create some fantastic looking objects and characters, should you be willing to put the time in. With the default camera setting in the design studio, getting the lines and colours in the place you want them can be difficult but thankfully, you can zoom in too get pixel perfect placement of colours. The suite may be a little on the basic side but the developers have done a fantastic job of optimising the touch screen to handle the design sections.

Final comments

As their first title on the handheld, developers 5th Cell have done themselves proud and created an ingenious platformer that really stands out in the crowd. It's well thought out and well designed and although the actual platforming doesn't quite match the standards set by other titles, it's certainly enough to capture the minds and imaginations of those that pick it up. There's plenty of room for the title to grow and provide more design options and a more robust experience but overall, as a starting point to launch themselves from, 5th Cell are on to a winner with Drawn To Life.

Pro: Drawing your own character and objects is a fantastic mechanic, game is pretty lengthy, game is presented well
Con: Gameplay may be a little too basic for some, game's camera can occasionally make jumps difficult
Final score: 8.1

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