This game has the "buy me now" label printed all over it
The game begins with a few short informative tutorial levels that will give you the basic info on how to move around, spawn, and use items. It will then take you to to the first easy action and puzzle based stages. Puzzle levels are in my opinion easier because here, you are not going to focus on how to get around the level or get pass an obstacle but rather just satisfy some requirements that is going to be asked from you. It's quite hard to explain without having the game available to show you, but both are equally fun to play.
As for the game itself, take a scenario wherein you are standing beside a tree wherein Maxwell (the game's character) is asked to grab the starite (which is the star that enables you to finish a level by simply touching it) on top of the tree. Like what I have mentioned, this game enables you to spawn almost anything that comes off the top of your head (with a few exceptions). You can then start typing in things like axe, chainsaw, etc and give it to your character and start cutting down that tree. But the beauty of this game is that you're not limited to just 1 or 2 ways of finishing the level. If you want, you can type in "lumber jack" and then spawn the axe and give it to him so he can start chopping down the tree for you.
It might seem pretty dull and basic at first but it gets better as the levels get tougher to beat. It is also a whole lot of fun trying to think of creative ways of solving a puzzle. Like trying to grab an item from a pool with a shark swimming in it. You can just simply type in a "grenade" and throw it in the water, or you can torture it a bit by using an "electric rod" and attaching it to a "battery". The enormous amount of things that you can spawn means that its only your creativity that is going to limit how much fun there is to be had with this game.
I also need to mention that items also often times act the way that they're supposed to. For example, you need to get an item across the map without you holding it. What you can do is spawn a glue, rope, and an elephant. You glue all those three things together, then spawn a mice. The elephant will then start running away from the mice just like what the cartoon's always tell us they would do. Same goes with a dog and cat, or a cat and mouse combo.
The game rewards you from using less items to accomplish the task and even gives you an idea how many items is the highest recommended to be used on a particular level. There's also a limit to how many items you can spawn in a given map. You will have to drag an item to a "trash can" to delete it if you want to spawn another one if you reach the limit. You can then later use your "Ollars" (which is the game's money/currency) to unlock items in the Ollar shop.
The game uses a comic style look that is obviously not going to wow anyone. But it works really well with the style of the game that you really wouldn't mind the flat looking graphics. I for one felt like they should have used more rounded drawing than the pointy ones as can be seen with the screenshots, but it isn't distracting enough to have any negative effects with the game.
Sound was done quite well. They don't sound flat and items that you spawn will have their respective sound effects attached with them. Animals and automobiles will have their roar and engine sound with them as well. It's all in there.
Controls are easy to get used to. You use the directional pad or buttons to look around the map. You use the touchscreen to type-in the items that you want to use and you can drag it around the map with the use of the stylus. You can also rotate the items by holding it down with the stylus and pressing the L button. If you mispelled a word or typed in something that is not part of the game's list, it will pop a window up with suggestions or corrections to pick from.
The game has a few things that on a few occassions makes me want to drop down the DS and stop playing. An example would be the camera focus, it tends to automatically switch back to your character after moving it somewhere on the map after 3 or so seconds. Having an option to lock it down or assigning a button to manually switch the focus back to Maxwell would have been a great addition. Trying to solve a puzzle while constantly battling against the camera can be irritating. The physics isn't perfect as well. Try lacing on a pair of rollerblades then start to roll down a hill. You'll sometimes find yourself sliding down normally and then a second later you're rolling down using your head. Same goes with some vehicles like an airplane that keeps tumbling around the air when it hits an obstacle. A tornado also pushes things away from it than sucking them in its core.
Eventhough the game has its set of quirks, none of them is big enough to overshadow the overall quality and fun factor that this title has to offer. The originality in itself makes this game worthy of playing because most (if not all of us) probably haven't been able to try out anything like this before. I can easily recommend this game to anyone who is looking for a new game to purchase on his DS and feel confident that he'll have a good time with this title.