Played entirely with the DS stylus, first impressions give off a rather barebones, yet somewhat accurate premise to Doodle Hex's gameplay. Consisting mainly of one-on-one battles with like-minded doodleholics, the chunk of the game is broken up into rune-drawing face offs. Essentially boiling down to who can draw the right magical symbol at the right time and/or right pace, the game's aim is to attack and dwindle the lifebar of your opponent in the name of abandoned etch-a-sketches everywhere. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean players will simply be able to draw random icons at rapid speeds in the hopes of pummeling their opponents with iconic spam. Rather, it's a testament to Doodle Hex's ambitious, somewhat minimalist design that there's a tad more strategy involved in its proceedings.
With the DS touch screen as a makeshift drawing board dedicated to scribbling out your rune spells and sending them toward the top of the screen's similarly-depicted adversary, it's the range of runes that can be sketched that add quite a bit of depth to the playing fields. Different sets of runes have different effects, and likewise, your opponent is able to send each and every one of their own dastardly drawings your way, which is where the game's colour-coded division of offensive and defensive maneuvers come in handy. Not to mention the always at hand, yet easily depleteable magic shield that protects against attacks for a limited time. Get your timing right with rune scribbles, and you'll also be able to pull off strings of combos. With all this hullaballoo going on, stylus input and strokes are surprisingly quite meticulously recognised by the game, with attacks and defense bonuses gifted to those who manage to perfectly draw particular runes to a tee.
Why all the senseless rune drawing then? As a newstart in the 'College of Runes', you take the role of one of ten Saturday morning cartoon inspired young 'un magicians on a rune-fueled quest to prove they're the very best. Possibly like no one ever was. Depending on which of these admittedly cliched animated avatars players choose to start their conquest of doodles, an equally ham-fisted reason for that respective prodigy's adventure is presented. It's serviceable, if forgettable plot stuff that doesn't quite match the mixed-bag mettle of its brother in hybrid-puzzle arms, Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. It's quite clear which demographic publisher Pinnacle Software are targeting.
Even with the overall derivative nature of Doodle Hex's characters and setting, the game's aesthetics are nonetheless slick. Well-drawn comic artwork bookends the plot points of the single-player mode, while animations, if short and near unnoticable, are nonetheless effective in quickly discerning the state of opponents in the middle of a battle of wits and doodles. The musical pieces throughout the game match the visual style well, with genres of music (ranging from caribbean ditties to emo-style rock) changing seemingly depending on the character chosen.
The real problem with Doodle Hex is in its overall 'one-trick-pony' sense of experience. When players eventually progress from the initial monotonous training stages of the game, they are met with an ever sinking feeling of more of the same. Thin on lastability and rewards, the game's single-player tournaments and challenge mode are trials in repetition, as their subsequent completion allows players to unlock more runes. The most useful of which are quickly amassed in a matter of one or two hours, the collection of runes is only truly useful in the game's wireless multiplayer mode. However, while Doodle Hex's formula arguably shines best when playing against another human being, what offerings there are come across as a missed opportunity. This is probably best demonstrated by the complete lack of Nintendo Wi-fi Connection support. At this stage of the DS' lifecycle, such an unfortunate omission deftly hurts the replayabilty of the one-on-one doodling shenanigans and score-mongering to be had. As it stands, your friends will simply tire of the competitive drawing just as you will.
Indeed, it's the drawn out (sorry) nature of Doodle Hex's core offerings as a whole that is its starkest non-recommendation. While it's obvious and commendable what basic design in entertainment developer Tragnarion Studios is aiming for, the game nevertheless comes across as a clever yet shallow distraction you'd otherwise normally expect as a throwaway mini-game in a meatier product. With a Wii version of the game in the works, those enticed by the curiosity of battling with doodles may want to skip the DS snack and see what satisfaction may rise from the console drawing board.
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