Max & the Magic Marker (PC) Review
Posted by Kevin Palmer on 03.03.2010
Copenhagen based Developer Press Play tries to recreate the success of Crayon Physics Deluxe. How does it stack up?! Read the review to find out!
Title: Max & the Magic Marker
Publisher: Press Play
Developer: Press Play
Genre: Platformer
Players: 1
Rated: E for Everyone
Max & the Magic Marker is the latest game from Press Play, a studio based in Copenhagen. The premise of the game is that a young boy, named Max, receives an orange marker in the mail which brings anything he draws to life. He draws a monster which starts wreaking havoc on his other drawings, which leaves him no choice but to draw himself into his world and stop him.
Max & the Magic Marker is in the new, as I like to call it “imagination genre” which includes games such as Crayon Physics Deluxe, Scribblenauts, or Little Big Planet. The concept of the game is “Mario meets Crayon Physics Deluxe”, all you have to do is get from the left side of the stage all the way to the goal on the right, with one big difference from your standard platforming fare, you can use Max's orange marker to draw anything your imagination can think of to help you get there. Maybe you need a set of stairs, a bridge....maybe even a catapult?
The art style of Max & the Magic Marker is undoubtedly cute and charming. The art is so well done it actually helps to gloss over some of it's other minor issues. Max has an adorable orange mohawk and smooth animations. The 15 levels are set in three different locales – a Suburban Neighborhood, a Caribbean island, and a Spaceship – they are all very well done and look great, but, considering this is a child's imagination, I do wish that they had included more locations to explore. On the same note, the enemies in the game are just lazy. They are just purple blobs! A little more creativity would have been appreciated. Max also has the ability to freeze time and draw, or erase anything he has drawn at leisure. Whenever Max freezes time the art style also changes and takes on a static, Crayola style and it looks great.
Max does, however, suffer from some problems. While the drawing and physics portion of Max & the Magic Marker is a lot of fun. The platforming elements are not up to par. His jumps feel a bit stiff and sometimes Max doesn't behave the way you would expect. The music in the game is great and really seems to match the mood of each stage. It does seem to be on a five minute loop though. So get ready to hear that same music over, and over, and over again. Unfortunately, most of the puzzles are far too easy, at least they are until the later levels. The first few levels you are just thrilled by using your imagination to solve basic puzzles in order to get to the next level. But drawing stairs and ramps is only fun for so long and the game starts to drag after four or five levels of it. Luckily the game really starts to pick up and becomes fun and challenging. You will quickly be drawing catapults, and using angles and Geometry to create inventive solutions to the puzzles you will encounter.
Max is a fairly short game. The average person will take 4-6 hours to beat the game and if you rush straight through the game without attempting to get all five of the secret orbs in each of the 15 stages it will probably only take 2 or 3 hours. There are some extra modes where you have unlimited ink, and a mode where you are free to explore an entire level.
One thing I was not too thrilled with was that the principle challenge in the game comes from the limited amount of ink you are given. At certain checkpoints throughout the game the monster that Max drew at the beginning comes on screen and steals the ink you have collected for your pen and forces you to collect more. It feels a bit cheap and arbitrary, like the developers are artificially creating challenge. It does, however, force you to think in more creative ways (which can be a lot of fun).
That is what Max & the Magic Marker is really about...creativity. All of the elements of the game from the graphics to the sound design, to the way the gameplay is structured seems to point to having fun and being creative. For only $20, Max & the Magic Marker is a great value.
Pros
Great art style
The soundtrack is excellent
The in-game physics are consistent
The drawing aspect of the game works very well
Fun extra modes
Cons
Some design decisions to create challenge feel cheap
Music is on a loop
The first levels are too easy
The game is short - which can be a good or bad thing I suppose
The 411
Max & the Magic Marker feels like "Crayon Physics Deluxe: Deluxe". The physics and drawing are spot on and it has a great art style. One of the most enjoyable games with a little boy with a giant orange mohawk as the protagonist that I have ever played!
Graphics
8.5
One of the best parts of the game. Very cute and Crayola esque.
Gameplay
8.5
Very fun. The game forces you to use your creativity to solve the puzzles that pop up. The puzzles in the later levels in particular are great.
Sound
7.0
The sound effects are good and the music is great..... too bad there only seems to be 3 or 4 songs that are stuck on a loop.....
Lasting Appeal
7.0
The replayability is helped by the drawing aspect of the game and your ability to solve puzzles in multiple ways. But I can not envision myself playing this multiple times.
Fun Factor
8.5
The graphics, the music, and the gameplay all come together in a very fun and pleasing way.
