Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color

Here?s a creative Pok?mon-style game with an awesome draw-your-own-monsters concept at its core?but how long does it take for the color to wash out of this quest?

Of all the cool video game ideas ever conceived, the concept at the center of Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color (formerly Color Quest, before an unfortunate legal issue forced a name change) easily ranks among the coolest. So what if the game built around that idea doesn?t quite do it justice?

Crayola Invention
Magic Pengel is a Monster Rancher?style arena-battling game with an excellent twist: Rather than culling your brood from a predetermined group of catchable creatures, you actually get to draw your own 3D monsters (called Doodles) from scratch. As you progress through the ranks, you?re granted more freedom in your drawings?more ink to use in your Doodles (which translates directly into HP) and more body parts to play with (which translates into different types of moves, depending on what you draw). Almost all of the time, the game?s animation A.I. brings your little Cthulu scribbles to life brilliantly, and the simple act of creation is scarily addictive.

Doodles come in three types?Attack, Block, and Magic?depending on what kind of body you draw and what colors you use. Creatures with giant arms tend to have Punch attacks, for example, while limbless entities tend more toward the Magic side. In theory, a creature with six thin legs is more likely to have quick kick-based attacks than a creature with six arms and lots of wiggly things on its head?but the ?creature determination? A.I. isn?t quite as smart as it should be. It?s a little discouraging (but only a little) when the pirate you drew with four serrated swords for hands turns out to be a ?Block? type Doodle with a really solid spin kick.

Unfortunately, the rest of the Quest doesn?t live up to the monster-creating part. The entire game takes place in an awkward-to-navigate town shaped like a giant outdoor hallway, and all you really do is duel, duel, and duel some more?which would be fine, except that the rock/paper/scissors battle system is repetitive and shallow, and your Doodles? unique attributes don?t really come into play as much as they should.

Colors Fade
So can inspired ideas beat out uninspired execution? In Magic Pengel?s case, the answer is yes but just barely. It?s a flawed-but-fascinating curiosity and addictive despite itself thanks entirely to the truly awesome monster generation. Maybe someday there will be a sequel made up of more colors and better lines?the Doodles certainly deserve it.

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