Scribblenauts is like playing a Mad Lib in 2D

Just watch the trailer, ok?

I never got that into 5th Cell’s previous DS offerings — Drawn to Life and Lock’s Quest — but I loved the clever concepts behind them. As unique as they were, the team’s latest title for Nintendo’s handheld makes them both look tame in comparison.

Think of Scribblenauts like a mix of platforming, puzzle solving, and graphic adventuring. The twist here is that whatever you write on the touchscreen is what you use to solve the game’s 100+ “grab the star” puzzle scenes, if you can tear yourself away from spawning tornadoes, pizza, soldiers, lantern fish, or just about any other noun you can think of.

Joystiq has a fluffy interview with the team and the pictorial to the left explains a bit but the trailer over at the official site is what you should really check out first. Just go, you’ll see. Scribblenauts just shot to the top of my can’t-wait-to-play list for 2009.