Wonderbook: Diggs Nightcrawler

Diggs Nightcrawler is a successful mix of video game and cartoon. The augmented reality works splendidly and is both novel and exciting. The adventure is in itself short and somewhat repetitive. The lower price still makes it a great buy for younger wannabe detectives.

Its humorous tone, combined with recognizable characters and loaded with personality, make this an excellent choice also for adults who want to play with the kids at home.

It sucks then that getting Diggs out of the frying pan takes a scant three hours, tops. Do that and you’ll unlock the option to replay and use the Move as a virtual camera to scour the augmented environments for hidden objects and other goodies – but that gets old pretty damn quick. While it lasts, Diggs Nightcrawler is full of surprises. If you’re looking for what Wonderbook can do it’s the best eggs-ample out there. [September 2013, p75]

Diggs Nightcrawler is a really charming story presented in an awesome way. Though some game play elements are kind of bad, the funny characters and a smart integration with the Wonderbook makes up for most of the flaws.

In Diggs Nightcrawler Sony have definitely hit on something, even if whatever it is doesn’t fit comfortably within any particular art-form and it will be interesting to see whether or not the high production values on show here can be sustained for future Wonderbook releases.