Scribblenauts is an open-ended puzzle game where you make your own solutions to problems by summoning any darn thing you want.

AROUND THE WORLDS: Scribblenaut's puzzle and action levels puts you in a variety of quirky scenarios, such as finding ways to sneak past guards, win a snowball fight, and disarm explosive traps.

ALRIGHT, here’s a puzzle for you. There’s a cat stuck on top of a house. How are you going to get it down?

Do you climb a ladder to reach it? Do you throw a dog up there so the frightened cat will jump down of its own accord? Or do you strap a dozen sticks of dynamite to the house, shoot a bazooka at the explosives, and — as the house crumbles underneath the feline — hope that the cat lands safely on its feet?

In Scribblenauts, no solution is too crazy to pull off. This is an open-ended puzzle game for the Nintendo DS with an imaginative twist — you can summon anything you can write down to help you solve problems.

Just prepare to channel the problem-­solving creativity of MacGyver and the cartoonish insanity of Wile E. Coyote.

The Starites of the show

The game sees you in control of Maxwell, a kid who has a thing for collecting McGuffins called Starites.

No reason is given to why Maxwell wants to collect these Starites, but, hey, that’s cool. If you’re thinking too hard about an actual plot then you’re worrying about the wrong things.

Scribblenauts is a puzzle game through and through, and at the outset there are 220 unlockable levels across 10 separate worlds for Maxwell to hone his Starite-hunting and puzzle-solving abilities.

The levels come in two varieties. Puzzle levels present a scenario that you need to solve to earn your Starite, like having to clean up a park or rescue a cat from a roof.

Action levels, on the other hand, place Starites visibly on the level, and you’ll just need to get through the horde of ninjas, disarm the traps or bypass the obstacles that stand in your way.

How you solve these puzzles, though, is entirely up to you. Whether you want to get through those ninjas by blasting through them with a laser, or setting a rabid dinosaur on them, or simply flying over them with a jetpack, the options are available to you.

CHAIN REACTION: You can combine certain objects together, such as attaching a chain to a box and a Starite so you can pull the latter out of a hole. Or, you know, to create an awesome nunchuck.

This flexibility in creating solutions comes from Scribblenaut’s unique mechanism of allowing you to summon pretty much anything you want.

Really, just write the name of an object into the game (either via the onscreen keypad or the handwriting recognition system) and watch in amazement as the object appears.

Scribbling 101

The number of objects you can summon in Scribblenauts is downright amazing.

As long as it’s not trademarked (so much for riding Optimus Prime...) or too ridiculous or, er, perverted, (what, no 12in pianist?) chances are the object is in the game’s extensive dictionary.

That said, you’ll have to keep in mind that Scribblenauts subscribes to a certain subset of cartoon logic. Let me put it this way: I once accidentally landed a helicopter on a dude’s head and he didn’t seem to mind.

Some players might find it frustrating when things don’t work the way they ­wanted (maybe they intended helicopter homicide), but puzzle lovers will enjoy experimenting to see the myriad of ways objects can interact with each other.

The only really, really bad element of Scribblenaut’s gameplay is its atrocious controls.

Since everything — from Maxwell’s ­movements to summoned object manipulation — is done via the touchscreen, the game often screws up what you intend to do and what actually happens.

There have been times where I’ve tapped on a rope hanging off the ledge of a chasm, intent on making Maxwell pull it up to get the Starite attached to the end, only for Maxwell to ­interpret my command as “Jump into the chasm? Sure thing, boss.” Damn!

Working for an ‘Ollar

Once you’re comfortable with the ­summoning system (and figured out how to stop Maxwell from running headlong into danger), you’ll want to try earning better scores on each level.

Each level has a par for the number of summoned items, and you’ll need to complete a level with the minimum number of summons if you want a good score.

Merits are also awarded for specific achievements on each level, such as finishing it with no weapons or completing it with objects you’ve never used before.

BRAAAINS: While there are often a dozen unique ways to solve a problem, sometimes the simplest one is the best. In the case of zombies, it's a shotgun to the head.

All your efforts will be rewarded with ‘Ollars, the in-game currency that you use to unlock new levels and bonuses such as avatars.

Plus, if you’re really up for the challenge, you should try the Advanced mode that’s unlocked after you complete each level.

Essentially, you’ll have to complete the same level three times consecutively, but you can’t summon anything you’ve already called for in a previous attempt. Good luck finding new solutions.

Of course, should you ever get tired of thinking of creative solutions, perhaps you’ll want to try making creative problems instead.

Scribblenauts allows you to build custom levels — using the ones you’ve already completed as templates — which you can share using the DS’ WiFi system.

If anyone’s interested, we’ve got one where Maxwell has to quickly end the fight between a giant mecha robot and Cthulhu to get to the Starite before a secret agent arms the hidden nuclear bomb and kills everyone.

Conclusion

Scribblenauts is one of the more unique games on the market right now, and for all its ­quirkiness it offers an amazing amount of enjoyment.

After all, how many other games give you this level of freedom in creative puzzle solving?

Sure, the controls might be maddening, and sometimes the weird cartoon logic might drive you nuts, but Scribblenauts is, for any puzzle lover, crazy fun.

Pros: Puzzles can be solved in a myriad of ways; Summoning system is darn fun.

Cons: Controls are out of whack; objects don’t always interact properly.