Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter is the next in a unique series from an up-and-coming studio. It’s the first Wii game made by 5th Cell, so it was interesting to see how they would continue their history of unique games while adapting to a new console. 

Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter’s story begins with the Raposa, the inhabitants of the world of Drawn to Life, noticing that one of their number is missing along with a number of objects from around town. A Hero is required to help track down the person responsible for the thefts and this is where your drawing first comes in.

Of course, the biggest feature of Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter is drawing your own hero and drawing various other parts of the world. If you are a good artist, then you’ll enjoy having your creations populating the world and watching your masterpiece of a hero travel through the levels. If you aren’t, well, then I hope you enjoy watching grotesque caricatures of animals travel around the levels. I fit into the latter category, and none of the things I drew looked anything like what they were supposed to look like. Luckily, you’ll often have the option of just using a model, if you aren’t a good artist.

The actual gameplay is fairly standard for a side-scrolling game; you’ll beat enemies, jump across platforms, and collect coins and various other objects until you finish the level.

The graphics are all 3-D despite this essentially being a 2-D platforming game, which is a really nice touch. However, all the objects you draw into the world are 2-D. This tends to make them stand out from the rest of the graphics, and not necessarily in a pleasant way. The music is catchy, though none of it is overwhelmingly good.

A couple other things of note is that the production values are clearly present in the game. It is obvious from the get-go that this isn’t just another Wii game, it had real effort put into it. On the other hand, the loading times are ridiculous. Loading between levels makes sense to me, but having to reload the level every time you draw some new creation or object is just silly.

Overall, this is a worthwhile sequel to the original. It is well-made and an enjoyable side-scroller. If you enjoyed the original on the DS, you’ll enjoy Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter. If you didn’t enjoy it, then there’s no reason to consider this one either. 

Plays Like:  Previous Drawn to Life games

Pros: Can draw many things in the game

Cons: Have to draw many things in the game; Loading times are tedious and far too common