Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter

 DS
  • Publisher: THQ
  • Release Date: Oct 27, 2009
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 31 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 31
  3. Negative: 5 out of 31
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  1. RedBen
    Aug 19, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Dear god, I think this is one is superior to the first in gameplay, but what ruins it is the ending. If I had reviewed the first, I'd give the original more points because the ending ruined it for me. It turns out that everything in the game was just Mike's coma dream. Yes, Mike. The same Mike who was just a mere minor character in the first game and played little importance to the story. I wish I could say more, but the ending ruined the entire experience for me.… Expand
  2. ND-Bringer
    Jun 29, 2021
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What was the moral of the story again? Sorry Raposa, but this game just didn't do it for me. This game serves as a sad reminder to me that my first games aren't guaranteed to be my favorite games. I may have missed out on the 1st game, but it really wouldn't change much.This experience has always felt lacking. I want to get sucked into this world of creation & wonder. I like the character design, I like the Scribblenauts style music, I think the levels have an acceptable design, but the story is a depressing mess of confusion. Unless you do some research or have a deep love for the series. It's really hard to understand the impact this game is trying to make on its players. The game starts off with a dark & stormy night with the creator(The Player)sketching a dark image that is apparently important to the game's story. However, it just feels pointless when there's little to no context to back it up. The game likes to rely on visuals at times as a form of storytelling. Most of the time I think the story let’s us decide how we interpret its surroundings. Goes well with creation mechanics. I haven’t done Pixel Art since Mario Kart DS, so it’s grand to be able to store my art in a very unique manner. Our goal is to help Jowee & Mari save the world from Wilfre’s evil reign of blank terror. Oh & there’s a character named Heather. She’s on the cover of the game, but possessed for almost the whole game.The game begins with some simple basement levels followed by our first world, Watersong. This is the only part of the game I enjoyed.A nice variety of different water level themes, a decent reference to the Phantom of the Opera, & then surprisingly, we’re treated to a lovely song from the mayor as she passes on her power to her last hope for Watersong. I think the whole game can be summed up right during this scene. The procedure was meant to kill her, but Wilfre enters the scene & interrupts her.Cancelling out a possibly deep death scene to go with the powerful number. To me, I think the developers weren’t sure if they wanted to make a deep experience or a kid-friendly fun fest. While games like Pokémon can have a nice balance of both, Drawn to Life Next Chapter tends to go too big on story & less on level design.I’ve got a feeling that 80% of the all players gave up the moment they saw those red stripes in the 1st Action Draw stage. You'd think a Creation game would have a bigger realm to explore. One of the most important elements in video game design is freedom. These levels feel crowded & uncomfortable to explore. And it just gets dicey, with those damn slime & spider abilities. There just situational really, I know a cool transformation when I see one…& this is just mediocre. Why can’t I transform into a dragon instead? No offense, but the hero ain’t getting into Smash with all of these weak moves. He just swings on vines, rides mine carts, & turns into animals. Maybe this is just a secret DK Country DS port. Of course, I’m glad this game has a decent variety of level themes. Even the vehicle levels aren’t all bad. But in the end, there's barely 4 worlds to explore in total. You’ve got basement tutorials, water land, lava land, space jungle land is a nice fit, & dark castle land that just repeats level themes for the most part. The new enemies don’t do any favors & the castle levels are only difficult due to those MegaMan style death spikes. The story follows up why Mari has teamed up with Wilfre, leaving everyone in the darkness, risking the destruction of the whole world. Yeah…guess what? Wilfre’s trying to save the world by draining the color in order to stop Real-Life Mike from waking up from his coma. Yep, it’s all a dream, kids. No need to save the Raposa because they're all destined to die. “It’s important to do what’s right no matter what”. Great message game…only I wish I didn’t have to look up online just understand what the heck is going on! Is the Light of Life song a sign that Mike's mother is dead? Why does the mayor have to kill herself in order to save the village? That's just dumb. Why can’t the hero just attack Wilfre while he’s monologuing for the 7th time? This story is so cluttered & uncomfortable that it feels like it’s trying to force emotions on you. It just makes me sad. And since the levels are just unsatisfying to say the least. It’s all disappointment from start to finish. You'd also think a Creation game would have a bigger realm to explore. This game was also rather quick to complete.One of the most important elements in video game design is freedom. And this creation game focuses too much on story. And the gameplay is just at an acceptable level of enjoyment. One of the weaker anime games I’ve played.I got a feeling development was rushed. Hopefully the reboot will help me give this series a second chance. At the moment, I’m just in a low mood. Overall, this game was short, but bitter. .… Expand
  3. ZangBang
    Oct 30, 2022
    4
    40/100
    Drawn to Life The Next Chapter is a slightly inferior customizable experience than its predecessor, with player creations being a lot less prominent part of the overworld. Even so, the drawing mechanic's potential beyond purely cosmetical purposes has finally been explored, being implented in gameplay, if only through a handful of extremely easy puzzles. And yet, generally    40/100
    Drawn to Life The Next Chapter is a slightly inferior customizable experience than its predecessor, with player creations being a lot less prominent part of the overworld. Even so, the drawing mechanic's potential beyond purely cosmetical purposes has finally been explored, being implented in gameplay, if only through a handful of extremely easy puzzles. And yet, generally speaking, level design has decisively improved: a more compact level layout allowing for a snappier progression, packed with a nicely diversified assortment of platform challenges and enemies, mixed and combined in a variety of different scenarios. It's still a bit too simplistic being very derivative and streamlined, but a solid array of power-ups allow for many decently varied playstyles, even if bosses are extremely few and only one of them is something more than serviceable. The story is also significantly improved, taking the protagonists on a grand adventure. The locations are lively and full of personality, but characters themselves remain very simplistic and forgettable. What isn't forgettable is certainly the finale, unexpected as it is painfully bittersweet, bestowing great emotional significance to this world and its deeper meaning.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

52
#52 Best DS Game of 2009
24
#24 Most Discussed DS Game of 2009
47
#47 Most Shared DS Game of 2009

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Vandal
    85
    This new installment of Drawn to Life has resulted in an even better title than the first game, with more options and a better game experience.
    Read full review
  2. IGN
    67
    Drawn to Life isn’t broken, but its ho-hum parts meant that it was incredibly rare for me to say I was having fun with a given part of the title, and that’s kind of a big part of why we play games.
    Read full review
  3. Games Master UK
    79
    We like the innovation. [Dec 2009, p.86]
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