Graffiti Kingdom - Draw Your Own Crap

by Wootini

Graffiti Kingdom for the PS2 is a sequel to some game called Magic Pengel that I never played. Good thing, apparently, seeing as how this one plays. See, the gimmick is that your character is able to transform into various creatures with better fighting abilities, and you are even able to draw your own. See below for my own nightmarish creation, Dave McAwesome. I was really hoping that his fearsome appearance would strike fear into the hearts of the monsters I encountered, since he punches like a girl and makes these really tired grunts each time he swings. Heh.

Unfortunately, drawing with a joystick pretty much sucks ass, and it's hardly PhotoShop. My first creation, Harold, is a gelatinous yellow blob that is better left unseen. He's very ashamed. As you progress through the game, you gain new abilities, such as cutting and pasting and adding textures and whatnot, but it takes a while, so your initial creature will look pretty embarassing.

The other problem with Graffiti Kingdom is that once you get past the obnoxiously long initial cinema that sets up the ridiculous story about a kingdom being taken over by a great evil and only one little boy can save his home with the help of some weird little dog-like creature, it's just an average platformer. With respawning enemies. I hate respawning enemies. And I don't really like platformers much, either. I think I'm allergic. The graphic style is actually pretty clever, with lots of bright colors for the kiddies, and backgrounds that look like they're made of corrugated cardboard. But wandering through them with slippery controls and fighting wave after wave of annoying little creatures just stops being fun after a while. Nice gimmick. Bad follow-through.