Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color

THE BAD:
Seemingly endless load times

SUMMARY:
Sure, Pikachu is cute, but do you really feel a meaningful connection with him? Nope, he's just some corporate critter designed in a lab to sell games and breakfast cereal. Magic Pengel's (formerly Color Quest) monsters are different. In this monster-raising sim, you personally design your fighting furballs, so you feel a real affinity for 'em. The doodling process is indistinctive, clever, and versatile--even terrible artists can forge impressive beasts that hurl weapons in battle.
In many ways, though, MP seems like a slapdash game built around the excellent doodle-creation system. The battles get repetitive, loading times drag on, the music often seems out of place, and the plot's a bit heavy-handed. Yet that stuff doesn't matter when drawing doodles is just so unbelievably fun. As a game, it's merely OK, but as a creative toolbox, it's exceptional.