I never played the first Drawn to Life, but the The Next Chapter has stimulated my curiosity enough that I may well hunt it down when I’ve finally finished this game. Drawn to Life’s unique feature is that players can draw their own hero, be a human, an animal or a multi-limbed robot or other creature, and can then embark an adventure aboard a giant Turtle Ship to defeat the evil Wilfre who has drained the colour from the Raposa civilization…
The game plays as a cutesy platform with RPG-style elements. The graphics don’t exactly stretch the DS in any way, but have their own certain charm. This charm is added to by drawing your own hero characters in-game elements; you’ll have to draw the main character (or several if you get fed up with just one) and also things like weapons, balls, surfboards and even the platforms you have to jump on throughout the game. If you’re not very artistic then don’t worry, there are templates available for you to copy so you can trace the outlines and get some respectable-looking results, but surely most of the appeal of the game is its customisable nature and the fact that you can make your hero look like whatever you want (we tried to make one that looks like Halo’s Master Chief). Because we’re pathetic and immature we also made some rather rude-looking game elements, like willy-shaped guns and statues, and platforms that look like boobs…
During the platform levels there are plenty of hidden sections that will reveal little extras, and during these levels colour pods can be collected. These colour pods are pooled and are used to restore the colour to the buildings and countryside of the various towns you visit. Some platform sections even require you to draw in lines for your character to climb on, once you’ve found your way to the exit you return to the RPG-style world where you can choose which areas to colour in next – colouring in is done by scribbling on the touch screen. The only gripe we have with the game is really that the RPG end of the game has too much inane conversation (done in the form of speech bubbles) that you feel you must at least scan through in case you miss something important.
Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter has a steady learning curve, and later on some tricky sections that require a lot of trial an error (and more than a little patience) to complete. The gameplay won’t be breaking down any new barriers or winning prizes for innovation, but some clever sections that require the use of a morphing ability and the fact that you can personalize the game gives it a unique appeal.
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