Metacritic Games

Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color (Playstation 2)

Take the adventure game role of a lifetime as a Doodler -- a special person capable of drawing your own cast of characters and watch them come alive as active 3D cast members in one of the most original games of all time. Your Doodles are granted awesome powers so you can compete in arenas all across the realm. All the characters you draw become automatically animated as 3D interactive Doodles. As you progress in the adventure you'll earn new colors and parts for your Doodles! Your imagination is the only limit to the style or type of Doodle you create. Save up to 200 individual Doodles on one Memory Card (8MB). Battle it out against a friend in 2-Player Matches to see who can make the greatest Doodle of them all! [Agetec]

Agetec
Role-Playing Game
Players: 2
E (Everyone)
Developer: Taito
Released June 24, 2003

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

74 / 100

Critic Reviews

88 Gamer's Pulse
One of the year's best surprises, offering a wonderful mixture of strategic gameplay, imagination, and colorful story telling.
86 GameReviewer
If you can grin and bear the sometimes overly cutesy presentation, you'll find a game with more options for customization than us lowly gamers deserve (and besides, you can make some disgusting doodles as compensation).
85 Deeko
A lot of fun and allows you to create and design the doodle of your dreams. While the gameplay itself is shallow, the doodling is as deep as the ocean.
85 IGN
The only title in recent memory that successfully combines adventure, role-playing, arena battle, and paint programming into one huge amalgamation of entertainment. Come to think of it, it's probably the only game to create such an arrangement.
85 GameZone
If you ignore Magic Pengel, you’ll be missing out on a wildly original concept that allows you to draw and bring to life characters straight from your very own imagination.
84 GamingTrend
May be a bit over a very young child's head, but much older than that and the combat system of the game may make them lose interest in it when they realize they can't assign skills.
83 GameNow
The drawing system is brilliant - simple sketches transform with ease into wonderfully animated creatures. [June 2003, p.50]
80 Official U.S. Playstation Magazine
Therein likes Magic Pengel's beauty... it's the fact that you can bring to life almost anything you imagine. [June 2003, p.106]
80 Gamestyle
It is a quest worth making.
80 Game Informer
Be warned - great skill is required to get something that doesn't just look like a Jell-O mold gone awry. [Sept 2003, p.109]
80 Cincinnati Enquirer
While not a perfect piece of interactive entertainment, it's enjoyable, and thanks to the way you can customize the Doodles, it's fun to play again and again.
77 Gamezilla!
Perhaps the biggest problem in Magic Pengel is that it relies too much on a gimmick—fortunately, the some of the game’s shortcomings can be overlooked because the gimmick is done so well.
77 Electronic Gaming Monthly
As a game, it's merely OK, but as a creative toolbox, it's exceptional. [June 2003, p.121]
75 Gaming Age
Thankfully it all boils down to a great, hour eating, and life sucking game that you won’t put down for some time. If you love to draw, Magic Pengel shouldn’t be missed.
71 GameSpot
A one-of-a-kind title, partially because of its art direction, and partially because of its incredibly unique character-creation system.
70 GamePro
It's a flawed-but-fascinating curiosity and addictive despite itself thanks to the truly awesome monster generation. [June 2003, p.113]
70 Edge Magazine
Magic Pengel isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, a rounded and satisfying videogame. But it is, without question, a rounded and satisfying stretch of the imagination. [Nov 2003, p.92]
70 PSX Nation
A jack of many videogame trades (RPG, “Mario Paint”-type paint program, “Pokemon”-like arena battles, etc.) that somehow succeeds at making a fun and coherent whole out of its many disparate elements.
70 GameSpy
While many aspects of it are excellent, the gameplay is flawed enough to occasionally frustrate and sometimes make Magic Pengel feel less like a game and more like a chore.
65 GameCritics
Its incredibly addictive drawing and animation succeed by providing a unique opportunity for your imagination to run wild, yet I can't help but be disappointed that the rest of the game doesn't meet the same impressive standard.
60 G4 TV
If the core battle system was more robust and there was more to do than just fight and draw, Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color could have been a landmark title.
60 PSM Magazine
Magic Pengel has a fantastic premise, but overall, there's just not enough here. [June 2003, p.32]
60 GMR Magazine
If only the battle system were as imaginative as the character creation, Magic Pengel would be one of those quirky and lovable games everyone looks back upon fondly. As it stands, it's just quirky. [June 2003, p.69]
58 Game Revolution
The painting is cool and the characters are likeable, but this is more about your own imagination than your own fun.

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