Drawn To Life The Next Chapter is the latest iteration in THQ’s Drawn To Life series and the first one to appear on a console. In it you play the role of the “Creator” and you need to help out the citizens of Raposa Village figure out what is happening to their town. One of the major hooks about this franchise is your ability to draw and the fact that you will draw objects that are missing in the environment that are required for your adventure to continue. Your actual ability as an artist isn’t tested to much though as you are given a specific area in which to draw in and no matter what you put in that area you will be able to use it in the world. This turns out to be a good thing as it is incredibly hard to get any kind of a precise drawing. You draw by pointing the Wii remote at the screen and basically using it as a paintbrush. There are different palettes of color from you to choose from so you can customize your creation until your heart is content.

I mentioned Raposa Village above and this serves as your main hub throughout the game. This is where you can talk to village residents and get your missions. This is also the place where you will find all of the doors leading to the various lands. When you start up the game for the first time you will notice that there is quite a bit of stuff missing in the village. A good example would be that the door is missing to the village’s shop. The way that you get the door back is that you draw another one so the owner can open the shop again. This is where you can purchase all of the items that you have unlocked during your adventure. You also have the option of going to the “Creation Hall” at any time as well. Every drawing that you do in the game is stored in this hall. If you didn’t like how you a drawing came out, or you simply want to draw something new, then you can go here and edit your existing drawings and you will see the changes reflected in the world the next time you are on a mission.

Each “world” has around six levels and has its own theme. The first one has more of a jungle theme with the second world being more of a shadowy landscape and so on. The levels seem to be pretty big and, especially if you are having trouble with a puzzle, can take a little while to go through. As you go through the levels you will notice some boxes created with a dotted line. There will be a blue box a red one and more which will immediately give you the sense of the type of puzzle you are facing. If the box is blue then you can draw whatever you want in it. If there is a high area that you can’t get to, simply draw some steps within the box and you will be able to reach that area. If the box you see is red it gets a bit more complicated. The red boxes deal with physics and will make you think a little more before you start drawing. Anything you draw within the box is going to fall and it is up to you to determine what happens. You can either draw a big box that will fall and give you a potential boost to reach high areas or you can draw something that will connect to some pivot points. You only have a limited amount of ink to use though so you have to maximize what you have. There are also some other boxes that you will encounter that you will have to figure out how to utilize. Some of the controls aren’t as tight as I would like with them feeling a bit float-y. Additionally, while the checkpoints in the level seem to be spaced out pretty evenly, if you have to quit a level in the middle of it then you have to go all the way through it again when you come back. It would have been nice if we could have saved it and simply picked up where we left off when we came back. The younger audience should enjoy the fact that the farther you progress in the game the more alive the worlds become. As you start to progress further in your adventure you can also go back to previous levels and see everything that wasn’t there before.

Drawn To Life seems like it could be a great family title, however, some of the things you have to do in a mission might be a bit hard for the younger audience. I can definitely see parents playing this game with their kids, allowing their kids to have fun drawing all of the objects, and then solving the puzzles themselves so the kids don’t get overly frustrated. The kids should get a kick out of the fact they’re impacting the game world and that something they drew is now a part of the game. There is also a small multiplayer component to this title where you and a friend can play either soccer, hockey, basketball or volleyball. Overall, Drawn To Life is a pretty good family title, however, hardcore gamers will likely get bored very quickly. With that being said however the game is definitely worth checking out if you own a Wii.

Score: 7/10

Originally posted on Totally Gaming Network