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I swear I tried to like Drawn to Life. On the surface, it looks like just the kind of cute, creative platform/adventure game that's perfect for a nice bit of handheld gaming, topped off with a drawing feature that's used for everything from designing the player character to most of the tools used throughout the levels. If only the actual platforming action was stronger, the boss fights less of a chore, the controls a bit more responsive, and the player character scaled slightly smaller to show more of the surrounding terrain, Drawn to Life would be the charming little adventure it should have been.
Like many games that are best described as "almost," Drawn to Life starts out well enough. The world of the Rapo (little furry cat/bunny people) is in a sad state since the Creator stopped paying attention, and the central village only has three residents left. Mari, the mayor's daughter, makes one last prayer to the Creator to pay attention before it's too late, and finally gets a response. The Creator, in the form of the player, opens up the long-sealed Creation Hall and gets to work drawing up an avatar. That's a pretty large order for the first art project, and fortunately there are several pre-designed creatures to choose from for people who, like me, would like to get to some platforming without spending hours attempting to overcome their artistic shortcomings.
Drawn to Life is obviously a kids' game...
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Once that's taken care of, it's off to the first level where more designing awaits. Each level has a couple of tools that need to be drawn in order to complete it. The first level, for example, needs both stationary and moving platforms drawn up, and while the game suggests clouds I decided vegetables would be better. Pillars, springs, rocks, statues, trees, and many, many other objects get sketched, doodled, colored in, or fully created throughout the adventure, both in the levels and the Raposa village. A few objects are exercises in coloring, but most are completely free-form, and can look like anything your twisted little mind can design.
While the drawing aspect is nicely done, the stages themselves are where the problems start. Level design is almost decent, but it's too easy to find everything on the first time through. Drawn to Life is obviously a kids' game, but even taking that into account it's incredibly easy, despite controls that are a bit too unresponsive and enemies that can get in some very cheap hits. Later levels get tougher, but jacking up the difficulty to where skill is finally needed on the last two areas is underestimating the target audience's abilities a bit. Even the four boss fights are easy once you get the pattern, although they can feel maddeningly cheap up to that point. An epic fight against a deadly giant foe shouldn't go from brutal to simple with no middle ground.
With all the attention paid to the other aspects, it's a shame that Drawn to Life fails in this respect. The story and setting are cute and fun and the drawing aspect is nicely integrated into the whole package, but this is supposed to be a game, not an interactive story and art experience. Drawn to Life goes as far as it can on charm, but unfortunately that's just not enough to recommend it.
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