Scribblenauts Showdown

Showdown follows the utterly brilliant Unlimited, so the new studio faced a huge challenge. What they came up with is a party spin-off, a decent one but also short-lived, as it offers few minigames (some of which borrow from Asteroids, Elastomania or Flappy Bird). It also features a Sandbox mode, which resembles original Scribblenauts but trails behind it. [05/2018, p.60]

The stripped-down sandbox may be a disappoint longtime fans, but it’s an extra feature that adds to a game that would still feel complete without it.

The number of objects that Scribblenauts Showdown allows us to create is higher than ever, but its application and new game modes lack of depth, situating this game halfway to something that could have been great. Nevertheless, Scribblenauts Showdown is really entertaining when playing with friends.

A simple and funny killtime... for a match or two.

It has the potential to be a great game, but Scribblenauts Showdown just doesn't have enough depth or freedom to live up to its name.

We hope that Warner Bros knows how to learn from this slide to reflect carefully on the future of its IP: a premature end is certainly not the fate that Scribblenauts deserves.

Showdown is a disappointing spin-off of a very unique franchise. It has some fun moments, but it ends up being dull too soon.

You can squeeze a few hours of fun out of Scribblenauts Showdown, but frankly this isn’t the next-generation Scribblenauts game that fans of the original were hoping for. It has fewer puzzles, worse controls and less replay value than any other Scribblenauts title.

Despite a quite brilliant look, the 27 minigames designed by Shiver Entertainment are meaningful and fun only for a couple of nights with friends. Unfortunately, they soon become a clumsy attempt to recycle well know mechanics in very superficial way.

Yes, it shares the name and the look of those previous games, but it lacks the all-important creative heart of its predecessors, and ends up being a by-the-numbers affair that goes through the motions in a shallow attempt to turn Scribblenauts' unique premise into a multiplayer party game.

Scribblenauts Showdown probably pays the price of its dual nature. It is an ambitious project that seems to have lost its compass mid-way, and in the clumsy attempt to make everyone happy, in the end it's likely to disappoint both those looking for a engaging puzzle game, and those who want to have fun with a quality party game.

This is a collection of minigames with fun concepts, but the influence of objects is so small, it is not like you can really make a difference.

Scribblenauts Showdown is a cookiecutter attempt at bringing back a lost franchise. While the party aspect isn't absolutely terrible, its bland nature made me shrug every time. And sure, the game tries to tie it in to the Scribblenauts franchise, but it misfires to an almost comical degree. This would be more funny if it didn't involve games I used to really love.

When the minigames here lean into the object creation tools (lifted entirely from the old games) there's fun to be had. But not enough of them do. There are so many options available for shallow rhythm-based dance games or Flappy Bird clones that it's disappointing to see them shoe-horned into a franchise that's already sitting on one of the most unique and enjoyable gimmicks there is.

Scribblenauts' charm was always in challenging the players to use their imagination and their diction to come up with fun and original solutions over the obvious or the mundane. While there's still some of that in Scribblenaut Showdown's Sandbox mode, it's too little to truly enjoy and too much focus has been placed on the mediocre party games instead. Even for the low cost, this is a considerably disappointing entry into the series.

It's astonishing that Shiver couldn't conjure up a decent party game from such great source material. [June 2018, p.118]

The content is short on both quantity and quality, some of the minigames are just badly designed, one of its game modes is way too repetitive and dull to provide any fun and the soundtrack adds nothing to the experience. As far as party games are concerned, Scribblenauts Showdown is not worthy of the players' dedication.

One of the most ineffective reboots of recent history, with a game that seems purposefully designed to undermine the unique qualities of the Scribblenauts series.