Graffiti Kingdom is a unique experience to say the least. Acting as the spiritual successor to 2003’s Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color, this particular series of games allow your creativity to run wild like no other RPG has before, but before I run ahead of myself, I feel that a word of warning is in order. While a unique experience is present, it’s not without its sometimes glaring drawbacks. If you’re the type of gamer that is willing to take creativity over quality, then there is some enjoyment to be had with Graffiti Kingdom.

The game’s story tells a tale of an ancient magic called graffiti magic which would bring any drawing to life. Graffiti magic was used 1000 years ago to seal away the one and only Devil, who was wreaking havoc on the realm. Fast forward to the present where we focus on a cocky and audacious prince named Pixel who, while hiding from his parents, accidentally frees the one and only Devil from a thousand-year imprisonment by carelessly playing with a graffiti wand he found in a secret basement of his castle. Once the Devil is freed, he constructs a giant tower and it’s up to Pixel and his dog-like companion Pastel to imprison the Devil again and undo the mess that Pixel started.

The gameplay of Graffiti Kingdom is your standard and simplified action RPG fare where you’ll travel through a variety of worlds while fighting monsters and gaining experience points. Pixel’s graffiti wand allows him to capture and transform into any enemy he encounters, provided he’s collected the card of that type of monster. While this sounds like some other games you may have played before, the real fun comes when you get into notebook mode.

You’ll find notebooks scattered throughout levels (which also act as save points) that will allow you to edit as well as draw your own characters and prefab monsters you’ve captured. No matter how bad your artistic talents may be, Graffiti Kingdom will always manage to make them work. It really doesn’t matter if your draw your character with one leg shorter than another, your character will still be able to walk with sometimes humorous results. The built-in editor is pretty simple and straightforward for the most part, allowing you to jump right in and start creating your characters in a matter of minutes. Once you start drawing the shapes of your character, you can assign the different parts functions which will determine how your character will attack, though this can also be edited to your liking later on. Functions will tell the game whether the part in question is an arm or leg, that way you won’t be punching with your feet or vice versa. As you gain levels, you’ll be able to unlock even more functions and pens to make even more elaborate and detailed characters. Some of the unlockable functions are spinning parts, functions that will turn your appendages into drills, wheels to make them move faster, among many others. Half of the enjoyment of the game is making improvements to your creations and the prefab monsters with these new parts that you draw on to them then testing them all out. In the end, it’s pretty rewarding.

Once you’ve drawn a character, you can then give them a list of attacks. While only a few of punches, kicks, and tackles are available at first, you can unlock more as you add on additional functions, though the overall selection is still a little on the lean side. Combat is extremely simple, so don’t expect anything on the level of Fighter Maker here. In addition to editing attacks, you can also edit how your monster will walk around and the sound scheme it’ll have. You can make a big lumbering beast with a squeaky voice, or a blue pumpkin with wheels that sounds like a robot. It’s your world dog, tear it up. The result is watching your drawings come to life and no matter how bad they look and all have a fighting chance of survival. You can have up to three characters available to you at any time which you can switch to on the fly by hitting a direction on the d-pad.

While this may all sound great, allow me to burst your bubble a bit. The editor is by no means perfect, which can be expected and some more documentation would have been nice on some of the functions. There are some tutorials available, though they mainly focus on the different types of pens and some of the functions of the editor. What’s ironic is that I get a tutorial on how to copy and paste, yet I still don’t get how to enable the “weapon” function to this day. There are also some graphical glitches that will cause some patches of your patterns to come up missing once you save your changes and hop back into the game. Given how difficult precise work can be when you’re drawing with the left analog stick of the Dual Shock 2, having to go back and redo your work here and there can be a bit annoying.

As I stated before, the combat tends to be overly simplistic up to and including the boss battles and gets pretty old really fast. Sections of worlds seem regulated to a few rooms with different types of enemies in them which have to be defeated in order to open a gate or door and move on. Interspersed between all of this are some simple platforming elements that add a little variety to the action, but nothing too fun or interesting to mention here. Gameplay is further hindered by the disagreeable camera which doesn’t like to show what’s hitting you when you’re backed into a corner or show you what’s up ahead when you’re going up a hill or stairs. Don’t even get me started on AI so dumb that they’ll run into a bottomless pool of water and even the vastness of space and kill themselves if they’re set on fire.

In addition to the story mode, Graffiti Kingdom also offers a two player mode where your created creatures can square off in a few small arenas. While the two player mode is a nice addition, it’s nothing to keep you coming back.

The game’s visuals are simple, but effective. Characters resemble those seen in the old Christmas specials like Rudolph and Jack Frost and add to the fairy tale mood the game presents. Environments are also really well done and each world’s theme really jumps out thanks to the environments. You’ll have worlds with cardboard hills complete with cut-out flowers, a world made of blocks, and a level that’s made up of a maze of bowling lanes. Enemies, most of which seem to have been made with the in-game editor as well, tend to look a little simple, but still look better than anything I’d be able to crank out. There are also some issues with clipping which aren’t just limited to my shoddy character design.

Sound is appropriately produced for a cute, sweet game such as this. You’ll find upbeat music that fits the mood for every world you’re in. Voice acting is about on par with any anime you’ve seen. Some characters, such as the supposedly friendly demon Tablet, sound wooden in line delivery and will totally throw you for a loop when you find out that it’s really a guy. Sound schemes for your creatures, as well as enemies, are also pretty limited, so you’ll be hearing the same grunts and groans over and over again. You’d better get used to them.

Graffiti Kingdom would not be recommended for anyone looking for a deep and involving action RPG. With a story mode that clocks in at around six to seven hours depending on how much you get killed thanks to a very forgiving continue system, there is little substance here for those who have no interest in creating and customizing their own characters. Aspiring artists on the other hand may have a good time letting their imaginations run free and causing death and destruction with their works of art. In a nutshell, the creative aspects are about the only thing this game has going for it.

- Brad Hicks (Dr. Swank), SwankWorld Media