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Flying Pianos!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 15 / 16
Date: August 13, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Magic Pengel caught my attention months before it ever came out. I was more than a little excited that we had finally reached the point where we can design and animate a character in a videogame without any actual skills. Also, it looked like a refreshing departure from the PS2's standard sports and shoot 'em up fare.

The game did not disappoint. In it you are a Doodler, a person pure of heart who has the ability to draw doodles that spring to life. In a typical RPG twist, there is a brutal regime that wishes to harness these people's abilities so that they can exploit it. The gameplay consists of drawing doodles and fighting other doodles. Although not spectacularly deep, the battle system is a glorified form of rocks, paper, scissors, it is addictive fun. The create a doodle system was deeper than the battle system by far. A doodle with long arms had a different set of attacks than one with short arms. The way a doodle is drawn affects everything from magic points to its attacks. It kept me riveted for days. I kept wanting to beat the next round so I could get another drawing option and experiment with different abilities. The real pull with this game is not so much the story, which is the tried and true good person versus bad government formula, as it is the opportunity to interact with the game on a deep level with your characters. A surprisingly large number of possibilities exist. My favorite characters included a flying piano and a vicious SNES controller which attacked with its cord. You are limited only by your imagination.

All told, I think this game landed on the wrong system. The load time is oppressive. Each time you move between areas it takes at least a full minute to load. If this were on the Xbox or GameCube, I don't think such extensive load times would have been necessary. Also, this game's personality wouldhave been more compatible with the GameCube. Not only was it's cel-shaded graphics similar to Nintendo's latest masterpiece, The Legend of Zelda, but it isn't particularly palatable with the PS2's audience of GTA and Madden fans. It is pretty much doomed to quirky, under-the-radar stautus. Of course, if this were on the Xbox, it would have sold exactly zero copies. Despite its shortcomings, the simplistic battle system and the load times, it was worth the fifty bucks and three weeks I spent on it.

A video game where a child can create something

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 13
Date: March 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I bought this as a Christmas present for my five year old daughter. She usually has to watch her older brothers play video games and is left out. She is artistic but obviously likes games as much as any kid. So Magic Pengel looked promising.

She loves it and the older boys like it as well (9 y.o.). It is quite something to draw something and see it come to life, walking around, throwing things, jumping, dancing etc. It doesn't really matter how well you draw - although nicer drawings usually make cooler (not necessarily better) doodles.

And I'll admit it - I've drawn a fair number of doodles myself - including a crab with spinning eyes and a trident, a mean robot named Bud and a yellow belt karate dude. Your imagination is the limit.

The combat system is simple definitely requires a little thinking - another plus - not just jamming the x button over and over.

Could it be better - of course! Load times are a bit of a drag - you eventually top out and can't go much farther - and the doodles don't do anything outside of the arena. So what? There is nothing else like it that I've seen where you can put a little bit of yourself into it and onto the screen. I hope there is an improved sequel. Till then, try it out and use your IMAGINATION.

The kind of game where your youngest can compete

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: November 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Someone said this game had no adventure ... Zoe's father has been imprisoned, possibly executed, nobody knows except a stranger who shows up thinking he may have buried Galileo, and who later proves to have some remarkable powers, there's a little girl who defies the tyrrant in the castle, openly, an undercurrent of grassroots resistance, and many questions unanswered.

And you, the innocent outsider who just came to the village to do a bit of doodle duelling, you're not only smack in the middle of it, it might all be resting in your hands.

My 4-year-old told me all that, based on what he and his 6 year old brother could read -- the only downside of this game for the very young is that not all of the conversations have been translated into sound-speech, so while they soon learn how to navigate, there are some gaps in their understanding when they can only pick out a few words (but they have fun trying). Apart from that, since we got Magic Pengel, nobody has wanted to play PacMan World 2 or Scooby-Doo ;)

Awsome GAME!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: September 26, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game.You can draw your own virtual pets and you can have alot of them two.I recomand getting a separate memory card for it though,as it takes up alot of space.Virtual pets are so cool! So this game so is cool.If you buy it,tell me. The only down parts are that it takes up alot of memory card space and that the game is too quick and its spoiled by a sad ending(all good games are.)Please tell me if you play it. You can neomail me my username is neogirl_7900. As for my email,I'm not allowed to tell sorry.PLAY MAGIC PENGEL!

Excellent creation- hope for the future!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: October 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is an excellent game. It is similar to pokemon in that you have monsters that you get to battle with- but in this game, you draw your own monsters!
There are some drawbacks- no pun intended- there is very little game here, no adventure really. But, the fun you'll have drawing ANYTHING you ever wanted to battle with more than makes up for it. I hope they'll create another game with an expanded adventure.
This is a grerat gift for kids- all of mine love it- and adults too! I steal it sometimes to draw my own stuff!Fun, fun, fun!

FALLS SHORT OF THE PROMISE

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 25
Date: July 12, 2003
Author: Amazon User

In MAGIC PENGEL, you doodle draw your characters and the game magically tranforms your sketches into 3D monsters. This is very cool. But the fighting is reminiscent of POKEMON STADIUM. You issue commands and watch the result. Not very exciting. Character control outside of the fighting is slow and frustrating and the saccahrin color scheme is a bit much. The supporting cast is your typical, over-the-top collection of anime goofballs.

This game didn't hold my interest for nearly as long as I would have hoped. I'm probably too old for the intended audience. Nice idea. Limited enjoyment (as in none), in my opinion,

Fun Game, Terrible storyline.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 31, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is extremely entertaining. It has a battle style that resembles a pretty even mix between pokemon stadium and dokapon. I was surprised to find this on sale here, as I was under the impression that it was completely out of print. Ignore the stupid Title and cover designed for a five-year-old, this game is great for anyone with hands.

Are you kidding!? THIS IS THE BEST!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 12
Date: March 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

If you like pokemon you'll love it, If you don't you'll love it If you love Final Fantasy you'll love it if you don't you will any way.

8-year-old's opinion

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: September 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I really like it. It has really good 3-D effects and I like to make doodles on it. It's pretty easy to use.

draw your own characters!!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 31
Date: May 02, 2003
Author: Amazon User

dudes this game off the hook no off the world!!!! i could not believe the game i ordered it before it came to the us :} and let me tell you the box art and phamplet they made in this game is so cool you fall off the chair the game is so much fun that you can draw your own characters!!!!! like if you like dragonball z you can draw whatever character you want goku krilin bulma master roshi which ever when i got the game i gained points so i can draw proffesional style so i did just that and i drew yugioh and pegasis it was so cool seeing them battle TOGETHER and waching them do their attacks i put yugi to do card blades the cards gives the enimies paper cuts but not just paper cuts it can actually chop off their fingers off!!!!so if you want this game you should get it .it is really cool drawing human babies cartoons and hey babes!!!!!and then giving them life to KILLLLL.

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