Scribblenauts Showdown (Nintendo Switch) Review

Upon opening the game, there are three different modes available to choose from: Versus, Showdown!, and Sandbox. Sandbox is closest to the original nature of the game and by far the most fun part. It's a series of stages filled with various characters and creatures, with some hints of how to keep those characters happy. Head into a strange zoo and try to please the animals and the guests, with hints like "Find the missing cub that's in the wrong exhibit" or "Help hatch the egg." They are all rather simple puzzles that can quickly be solved in a variety of different ways. There are nine different sandbox stages to take on, with a handful of riddles for each, and the dictionary list in this iteration allows for 35,000 items to be summoned, making for plenty of different solutions for every puzzle.

This is a pale imitation of everything that made 5TH Cell's series special, though, instead focusing on mini-games. There's an entire mode dedicated to them in "Versus." This offers a focus on a specific type of games, a set amount of rounds, and to play against either another player or vs. CPU. For multiplayer, duelling Joy-Con can be utilised, and in freeplay mode, each and every mini-game can be played individually. There are 25 different mini-games to take on, including flying helicopters through tight spaces to land cargo on targets, a dance-off rhythm game, smashing piñatas, speed eating, throwing creations at competing towers of trash, and plenty more. The majority of these are brief games with little to set them apart from what has been done countless times before and they are nowhere near the levels of games like WarioWare, Bishi Bashi or Rhythm Paradise. There's certainly nothing special or addictive here. The games make use of the various functionalities the Switch offers. In handheld mode, this mostly means tipping the Switch back and forth for the gyroscope inside. In docked mode, the Joy-Con can be waggled and shaken in various ways for those who enjoy such things.

On the game mode front, the final option is "Showdown!" This is a board game style mode. Think a third-rate Mario Party. Each player gets a hand of cards and they take it in turns to play them and move along the board, and first to reach the goal wins. The majority of the cards give a set amount of spaces to move attached to a specific mini-game, the winner of which gets to move. There are also special cards that allow movement without winning a mini-game, force other players back a few spaces, or similar type moves. The game allows for 1-4 players with various difficulties but, ultimately, it's just a different method of playing the same disappointing mini-games.

Regardless of the mode, the controls are horrendous. There is a series of letter wheels to punch in the words to spawn creations, which is decent enough, but the rest of the controls are horribly clunky - in both handheld and docked mode, as opposed to the usual handheld and touch controls. That's mostly because this was clearly made for a console experience and a controller, with it being the first in the series hitting for the first time on PlayStation and Xbox, too.

Outside of the game modes, there are two other options from the main menu: Awards and My Scribblenaut. Awards would likely be the achievements or trophies on the other platforms but since Nintendo has still yet to add some sort of achievement system to Switch, they are just accessible via the main menu. It's the normal stuff: play a set amount of the different games, win a match without losing a round, achieve specific conditions within each mini-game, and so on. Achieving certain awards opens up new items to buy in "My Scribblenaut" that can be bought with the series' currency of Starites. This allows the player to create custom Scribblenaut characters to use in the game, customising specific features, outfits, and accessories, and even the vehicles used in mini-games.