My son found a game called Graffitikingdom for his Playstation 2 that on first glance looked a bit below his level of interest with cartoon characters and bright cheery lettering. Since there doesn't appear to be any violent doom and gloom, how could he like this...I say that in tongue and cheek. He knows what I would accept and not accept as far as games are concerned and he gravitates to things like Star Wars and sports titles anyway, so I don't have to worry.

 

I turn the case over and read "Dream it! Draw it! Play it!" The game has a built in graphics editor that you use to draw freehand from scratch anything you can imagine, give it three dimensional form, color it, assign various moves and abilities and even sounds, give it a name, and play it like you would Mario in a three dimensional world.

 

Apparently you start out as Prince Pixel in Canvas Kingdom which is enslaved by the typically powerful, but foolish bad guy. Pixel finds a magic wand which is a paintbrush with a palette that helps him (you as the player) draw and transform into that character you design to battle through twenty-one levels of baddies and bosses. At first it looks strange when played making me think we bought the wrong kind of game...that is until we started drawing!

 

You do use the standard controller and it does take some getting use to. As you play on, your editor, called the graffiti notebook aquires new editor abilities making your efforts in design more easy and detailed. The instruction manual even gives good advice about drawing! "There are lots of people who can't draw very well at first. However, if you keep playing and constantly draw, you will gradually get better." Hmmm, o.k. I'm won over. You can modify the existing 220 characters or if you have the memory card space, create 144 of your very own. It is a unique experience to see my own works of art move about at my command and becomes quickly addicting if you are not careful.

 

The game sports decent graphics and sound, perhaps a little less than what games are offering or soon to offer if you want to look at it that way, but it works very well for what it is. The levels do get more challenging, requiring you to draw new characters or add new moves to the existing characters of your own deisgn. The game's built-in characters can inspire you to try new designs as they get more clever as you progress. It is certainly good to see a game come along that challenges you not only to think, but actually have a hand in creating as well. I highly recommend it to anyone who has kids and adults who can still think like kids do and loves to create.