What I don't like from Scribblenauts Unmasked

Spoilers Ahead if you don't want to know



The gameplay: I think I should be fair and say I like most of the game. It's very addicting and does require you to use your head. But it's can be buggy and very mean. The second time I played the game I was in Gotham testing out which heroes I could make. I made Oracle and Nightwing. A heart appeared over Nightwing when she was create and it crashed when she randomly decided to become Batgirl. I never had that happen to a DS game before. This didn't happen again but still worth mentioning.

For a game that appeals to freethinking it also surprised me that there are certain things I can't do because scenarios have to happen for the boss fights. For example I used the hint Batman gives to find someone for Darkseid to fight that can bonce the omega beams back at him. This didn't just happen when I picked someone to fight him so I made a giant Supergirl with reflective skin. That stopped him but the game said I lost because a "important character was defeated." Didn't I do what it said? I was annoyed to see that something else I did the first time actually worked where this didn't. On the same level I can't defeat the Anti-Monitor unless I have a bomb and he pretty much kills me instantly. I didn't have time to hit the icon to make anything. I had to plan ahead for that by making one before he shows up which isn't too bad but I can imagine the frustrations of others who keep trying to do it at that part.

Usually you can't do anything to certain villains in the boss fights because the option isn't present or you get a failed screen for defeating them too early. During the race on the Flash level I noticed I could affect Zoom so I put "slow" in. He froze but the text continued so I couldn't move by the time I was heading back towards the finish line. The meanness is sort of in the little side quests you have to do. While it's nice to see they mix it up when the same quest comes up by giving different outcomes the results are cruel to the civilians. One has two kids playing "the floor is lava" if you touch the ground before getting to the other you start to burn. The mean part is that if one of the kids is on the ground when it starts they burst out in flames and if you're not quick they die.

Another has a mission to deliver a steak to a hungry orphan and a hero. The second time this happened I was ambushed by hungry villains so I put the steak down for the orphan who ate it then turned into a zombie. FYI zombies turn up A LOT. Oh yeah and you can kill people and one quest involves a corpse and finding the murderer. That's not a complaint just saying it surprised me since this is a game for all ages. There's a glitch in that has me solving solutions to the quest without even getting near to them. Usually this happens every now and then when I enter a location. Sometimes it's when I'm in the middle of doing something else. This isn't a bad thing per se but it takes out some of the fun of doing those missions.

I loved the nods to canon and how most of the characters were written. I was irked by the Wonder Woman level starting with her and some Amazons gossiping then the warriors getting pissed off that a male child was visiting. It just wasn't needed for the game especially when weird things are already going on. I did like how Wonder Woman also includes Lily as she mentions Maxwell showing that she sees both as heroes. I think she's the only one that notices Lily's efforts.

I mentioned this in another Scribblenauts entry but I really hate how the new 52 version of Red Hood/Jason Todd is treated as a bad guy. I was looking forward to teaming him up with Arsenal and Starfire as much as I was having Booster and Rip onscreen. It's very wtf worthy considering all the detail they put into the game.