This game is exactly what the hype made it out to be, but there are just a couple things...
But you've probably heard the rules by now, and if you haven't, look 'em up. The point is, it really works! Just about anything you can think of comes to life and interacts realistically with the environment, or with other objects. So, believe the hype. Its a great little sandbox that you can dump hours of your life into and still not discover half of it. In fact, the total word count tops 22,000. That's a lot of words for one game.
But for all its glory, it still isn't perfect. First and foremost, the challenge levels. The puzzle levels work just fine, and they are quite fun and thought-provoking. The action levels, however, aren't that nice. One of the problems has to do with guns. If you wield one, it gets, like, three freaking bullets. Imagine an SMG with three bullets. Not exactly a good picture, is it? Coupled with the fact that if you give a NPC a gun, they apparently have that magic touch where they can fire around three HUNDRED bullets and still not run of ammo. So if you want to kill something, the only practical solution is to make a bigger monster. See, there's almost always a bigger fish, and in the few exceptions, just summon Death and give him a shotgun. Thus, combat isn't too exciting in this game.
The other problem is much smaller: the controls. Some reviewers beat the game up for this way too much, and personally, I think that it works *almost* fine. Sure, there have been a few instances where I make Maxwell jump over a cliff into a pool of lava, but hey, the game gives you unlimited lives, so what the heck.
This game comes with a level editor, which is pretty cool, but isn't exactly what you'd expect it to be. You select a template from a level you've completed, and put down whatever you want, and then the Starite. The AI selections are stifling, and you can only create action levels, and none of the cleverly charming puzzle levels. Which is okay, because you can still do some neat stuff, just not as much as you would like.
Well, anyhoo, the game is still fantastic. I spent about an hour on the title screen without even touching the challenges, and even now, most of my time is spent on the title. Its a wide-open sandbox where anything is possible, and I completely recommend it.