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| Source // Nintendo |
Remember Crayon Physics? Would you be more interested in it if that kind of gameplay was found in a platformer, instead of a physics puzzler? Would you want to play more of it if you were guiding a kid through a level, dealing with monsters and trying to catch an escaped cartoon drawing?
If you do, it seems Max & the Magic Marker will be right up your street, because that's pretty much what it is. Crayon Physics crossed with a platformer, and you can already imagine the kind of things you'll get up to.
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| Source // Steam |
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| Source // Steam |
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| Source // Nintendo |
Fun Times
Max & the Magic Marker is a charming little platformer for smart kids to scribble their physics homework into. If a gap is too large to cross, draw a bridge. If a lever needs a weight, draw a weight. If there's absolutely no way to reach a collectable, invent one - you have a magic marker, after all. Make use of it.
Frustrations
But for the love of all you hold dear, don't emulate the Nintendo DS port as your first experience of the game, because it's awful.
Max & the Magic Marker could be found on the PC, though Steam no longer sells it. It's on the PlayStation 3, though I have never seen it. It's on iOS devices and even Windows phones, but I've access to neither. You'd think that a handheld with an actual stylus would therefore be the saviour of the day, but it just isn't.
Your magic marker has a limited amount of ink which you need to collect by walking Max into some ink bubbles. Fair enough. That checkpoints trigger the monster you are chasing to hoover up all the ink you have in your marker is a tad annoying, but that's clearly a gameplay choice that means... well, I don't know what it means, really.
I guess it means that we need to gather more ink bubbles, which involves awkward platform jumping, both in terms of slow animations and input lag, though that may be emulator related.
And then you come across situations like this. That's a deadly drop that Max will not survive, so I make a bridge. It falls down because it wasn't anchored. It wasn't anchored because I literally cannot draw to the other edge of the pit because the camera doesn't pan that far unless Max starts moving that way. He can't move that way because the bridge that will save his life hasn't been drawn yet.
Can you see how fiddly and annoying this game can be yet? I'm certainly not having fun and would prefer Crayon Physics on its own.
It took a few attempts to cross the gap, but I got there, and this would be the point at which I called it quits. These enemies kill you with a single touch but can be killed by dropping doodles on their heads. What happens just to the left of this screen? A checkpoint, where all your magic marker ink is removed. Are there any ink bubbles to collect before you reach the enemies? Nope.
All you've got is a moveable cardboard box and a jump that isn't as responsive as you want it to be.
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| Source // Steam |
Final Word
So, no surprise that I didn't play this one for too long, but some glances at screenshots for the better ports of Max & the Magic Marker did have me thinking that there is actually a good game to be found when adding a platformer to Crayon Physics.
It was the creative solutions to the problems that were intriguing to me. Solutions I probably wouldn't have come up with or would have drawn wrong and wasted ink in the process.
I'm sure there's nothing wrong with Max & the Magic Marker, so long as you play a 'proper' version of it that shows it off at its best, but how much appeal does it have? Do older players want to play something like this? Will younger players be too confused about what it's asking you to do? How difficult is it, or will it get? Is it satisfying to play and finish?
After fifteen minutes of faffing about with emulation of a DS port, you don't get to answer these questions - but you do have a first impression that will colour your view of the game, negatively, in my case.
Do check it out as something different to anything else, though. If I ever come across any other version I might give it another go. Beyond that, I'm fine with missing out on this one.
Fun Facts
A darker looking sequel, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, has been released on several platforms as well, and might be easier to both find and get on board with - who wants a sunny day and green grass when you can have gloomy caves and unimaginable horrors?
Max & the Magic Marker, developed by Press Play, first released in 2010.
Version played: Nintendo DS, 2011, via emulation.