GENRE
	Action Adventure
	DEVELOPER
	Planet Moon Studios
	PUBLISHER
	THQ
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-4
	WI-FI ENHANCED
	No
	DS COMPATIBLE
	No
	BUY NOW AT

Nintendojo was provided a copy of this game for review by a third party, though that does not affect our recommendation. For every review, Nintendojo uses a standard scoring criteria.

Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter is a Wii spin-off of a series that up to this point has been exclusive to DS. The series is premised on the notion of the gamer as a god whose job it is to come and help the citizens of the game world. To that end, the player creates and takes on the role of an avatar (a bit like ActRaiser) which then comes to the aid of the village. The concept is a good one, but the whole package is sabotaged by one major irritations, not to mention a few choice smaller ones.

Simply understood, Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter is Super Mario Bros. with elements of Microsoft Paint and even a bit of Okami thrown in. The player works out of a hub world, delving into a variety of levels where the object is to run, jump, stomp, fly, and climb one’s way to the level objective. Along the way, the player has the chance to use a Paint-style interface to design much of the game’s content: the player character, various devices and attachments, power-ups and enhancements, and even some background effects. (Those who are uninterested in the design process can use default templates instead.) Beating levels unlocks new content back in the hub world and moves the story along in the game’s levels. The platforming and puzzle elements in the game work quite well, and as new objects are unlocked the gameplay becomes even more varied.

The plot takes place after the events of the first DS iteration of Drawn to Life, and knowing how that came went is helpful in understanding this one, although not absolutely necessary. Plot events in the game are triggered by talking with characters in the hub world, but since the hub world is sprawling and those characters are scattered throughout, players will find themselves spending a lot of time running back and forth between the hub world and the gateways to the regular levels.

The game certainly has a nice sense of style. The characters are simple but cute, and the backgrounds are really pretty, with some nice layered perspective along the 2-D backgrounds. The games many levels are varied and help keep things interesting over the long haul, although enemies get a bit repetitive at times. The music is pretty simple, but it works fine and sets mood well. There is, however, no voicework.

Drawn to Life uses Wii’s IR capabilities in two different ways. The first is on the game’s Paint-like screen, which is used to create objects. On this screen the player can draw, erase, stamp, and do other effects that one would find using the ubiquitous Windows art application. The second is in special in-game boxes where players can draw objects, such as platforms, that can be manipulated or used in some way. They work adequately enough, although the DS’s stylus is more precise and it is difficult to draw with a steady hand in the Wii version.

Combat is a relatively small component of the game, but it is worth mentioning. The game uses some of the same moves found in the 3-D Super Mario title -- albeit in a 2-D game -- including punching, stomping, and even the famous flip butt stomp. The character is given a set of lives, but the only way to lose a life instantly is to fall into a bottomless pit. In combat, when the player takes damage, the player loses part of its clothes. After a few hits, a decidedly unclothed (but tastefully covered) player character falls off the screen. Restoring health (one’s apparel) can be effected by collecting the health items in the world. What those health items look like depend entirely on how the player chooses to design them.

A couple of other extras round out the package. A set of multiplayer minigames are available but they are so small and simple they are barely worth mentioning. There are also collectible stamps that can be found in the field, but they, too seem to serve no real useful purpose other than as eye candy. In fact, the main currency of the game, coins, aren’t really used to purchase anything useful -- just the aforementioned stamps.

Unfortunately, Drawn to Life is overshadowed by one, enormous, constant problem: unreasonably long loading times. Transitions take anywhere from ten seconds (between a level and the Paint screen) to fifteen seconds (between the main world and a level). Even starting up the game takes a good fifteen to twenty seconds of load time. Since these transitions happen frequently, the player ends up seeing the game’s load screen far more often than one should, and it inevitably overshadows an otherwise clever and pretty game. It becomes such a nuisance that players may find themselves cringing every time they see one of the game’s many paint canvases, since that means that a long load time stands between the player and the paint screen.

Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter is a good example of a great premise wrecked by poor programming. A novel fusion of platforming and painting, the game serves up varied, beautiful gameplay, only to undermine it with a lengthy loading process that never goes away. It doesn’t help, either, that the IR isn’t ideal for painting or that the game requires lots of running to and from levels. These aggregate irritations ultimately suck the fun out of the game and relegate an otherwise-promising idea to mediocrity.

5.0/10