Max and the Magic Marker Review

Introduction
When I was younger I used to follow a story in the comic pages about a young boy named Calvin, who went parading on many adventures with his stuff tiger, Hobbes. Calvin and Hobbes was a fantastically drawn, artistically splendid comic that won the hearts of many. In order to stay true to his vision of what comics should be, the creator was able to successfully prevent his syndicate from commercializing his work. That means my cabbage patch kids that live in my living room can’t play with a stuffed Hobbes; I can’t go ride a transmogrifier time machine at an amusement park, and unfortunately there was never a video game starring Spaceman Spiff, Calvin’s alter ego. Thankfully, Max and the Magic Marker is everything I envision a Calvin and Hobbes game might be; minus Hobbes.

In this game, you control Max, an artist with a collection of drawings. A purple ink blob monster runs into Max’s art and Max must stop him from wreaking havoc on the wonderful artwork; so Max chases the monster into the drawings.

Drawing The Line!
The gameplay is a little bit Commander Keen and a little bit Line Rider. Max runs forwards through fifteen side scrolling worlds, and overcomes obstacles along the way. Obstacles take the form of pits, lasers, robots, water, moving platforms and the occasional ink enemy. To conquer these obstacles, Max must use his magic marker to draw elements on the landscape. The elements you draw are not static. They move and roll and bounce depending on their shape and where you draw them.

Need to get over a pit? Draw a bridge! Need to climb a cliff? Draw a ramp or stairs. Need to move a boulder? Draw a lever! Then drop something heavy on top of it to activate it. Do you need to jump high to get to the next platform? Max can create a seesaw, stand on one end, and drop a heavy ball of marker ink on top of it to send Max up into the air. These are just some of the ways that Max can use his marker to manipulate the game world.

You don’t have to draw while the game is in motion, though. At any point you can stop the action in order to draw elements on the screen. The game will go from “play” mode into “scribble” mode. In the scribble mode, everything on screen turns from beautifully rendered game elements into something that looks like child art. It fits the game beautifully I found myself enjoying the scribble versions of different elements. Scribble mode is handy when you fall of a cliff and need a bridge quick.

I have 100 golden coins, what is my reward?
On each level Max can collect marker ink, light bulbs and black orbs. The marker ink lets you draw items, so collect as much as you can. At every checkpoint the evil purple blob will show up to vacuum your marker dry; sometimes you have to use the ink judiciously so you have enough to accomplish your task. You’ll get the hang of this quickly, though.

There are lots of light bulbs, upwards of 50 on each level, and it is not usually a challenge to collect them all. Other than the thrill of finding them all, I’m not sure what purpose they serve. The black orbs often provide a different challenge, and are the closest that Max comes to an adventure game. They are better hidden, and often require you to solve a puzzle to collect the orb. Some of the puzzles are timing puzzles, but some require some thought, such as throwing a ball through a hoop or standing in a certain spot and looking the right way. If you see anything specific to the level you’re on, most likely it relates to a black orb puzzle.

As Max collects black orbs and light bulbs, he will unlock special game modes. These game modes include a playground, which is an empty level that servers no discernable purpose; Full Marker, which lets you start with a full marker instead of having to collect ink pellets; Super Max, which lets you jump high; and Double Espresso, which lets you run real fast. It is fun to play the game with Double Espresso and Super Max activated; however, anything you achieve with those on do not count towards each level’s achievements, so once the thrill of one or two levels runs out, you’ll never turn the cheats on again. I would have preferred to see the game keep record of “cheat” achievements in addition to non-cheat achievements; which makes them slightly less pointless.

Three Worlds means Fifteen Levels
The game consists of three worlds, or sets of drawings. The first is Sweet Home, a simple neighborhood with houses and playgrounds. The second is Shiver Me Timbers, with pirate ships, water hazards, and canons. The final world is the Robot Factory, with lasers, robots, and bizarre spinning wheels.

Each level gets progressively harder and overall, the game provides an increasingly consistent challenge. World 1 is a great introduction to the game mechanics. World 2 is the perfect mix of challenge and fun. World 3, unfortunately, is it a bit too hard if you want to get all the extras. On many of the World 3 levels I gave up trying to unlock all the secrets and I’d even swear that retrieving one of the black orbs is impossible.

What is the Final Verdict?
The version I originally played (1.2) was loaded with bugs. Often it wouldn’t load, and I couldn’t get past level 2-3 without crashing. Version 1.3 crashed significantly less, but was far from perfect. At least it let me get right up to the end, even if it locked when I finished the final level, leaving me without the reward of a final cut scene. Version 1.4 is pretty stable, but unfortunately hosed all my saved games so I had to start from scratch. It did allow me to see the end cut scene after defeating the purple baddy on level 15.

Sometimes the levels, especially in the third world, were frustrating. I spent > 76 minutes on level 3-1 my first time through; much of that trying to get one of the black orbs. I eventually gave up. You had to get that orb by traversing two laser beams and jumping on a moving platform. If you were hit by the beams, you were sent back to the last save point. This puzzle was at the end of a tedious climb where you had to create a bunch of magic marker ladders, making the puzzle all that more frustrating. I’m not sure it is possible to retrieve that orb. To make matters worse; there seemed to be two different syncs between the two lasers you had to traverse. I eventually gave up without collecting that orb.

Despite my problems with ‘earlier’ versions, Max and the Magic Marker has a lot more polish than I’d expect from a casual game, but not nearly as much as I’d expect from a commercially sold unit. Had they not updated it; I’d have given it an F, or 0 stars, two thumbs down, or one finger straight up. But, since you won’t have to deal with the earlier bugs that I encountered, go ahead and pick this game up. I look forward to seeing more levels made with this engine, and perhaps something that expands the gameplay somehow.

System Requirements:

PC