Max & the Magic Marker Critic Reviews

A new splendid platform game arouses player creativity.

A generic platformer combined with a very interesting draw-a-platform system.

Charming, clever and compelling all at once, this game does everything right.

If you're looking for a quick fix with plenty of challenge, then Max & the Magic Marker is something to consider. It's presented beautifully and with its combination of puzzle and platforming elements, it plays quite fluently. All in all, it's not that novel though. We have seen such elements in other drawing games before, but still Press Play knows to keep us tied to the screen and that's why this game deserves a place in your WiiWare collection.

A clever mix of World Of Goo and Drawn To Life that makes good use of the Wii and your own imagination.

Press Play's first adventure has come to be one of the best WiiWare games that we've tried so far, with an impressive graphic engine and a very entertaining traditional gameplay style that will make any platforms-lover enjoy his time with the game. Don't miss it.

Although it doesn't really do anything other "drawing" games haven't already done before, Max & the Magic Marker is a very enjoyable and sizeable platforming romp, and one you'll definitely want to see through to the end. The collectibles will keep you coming back until you've got 100%, which can be pretty challenging, but it will be worth it.

Max and the Magic Marker is yet another considerable addition to the Wii's download library, and a great start for new developers Press Play.

If you were enamored by the creative ideas promised by games such as Drawn to Life, definitely give Max & the Magic Marker a look. It's not an epic adventure by any means, but there's still something magical about it.

Max & the Magic Marker is a enjoyable and creative platforming game.

Fans of platformers looking for a new twist will love this game. The 15 levels will keep you busy for roughly 3-4 hours, which isn't bad for a downloadable title, even at 1000 Wii Points, although I would have preferred it to be a bit longer.

If you enjoyed Kirby's Canvas Curse or are looking for the next puzzling platformer, this could be a good way to spend 1000 Nintendo Points.

This is a lovely game with an interesting gameplay feature – but why does it only offer three hours of fun?

Tight ink limitations force creative solutions, but once learnt, certain tricks undermine the action.

Max and the Magic Marker is a platforming game with very good ideas, well executed, but is far from being an outstanding game.

There's plenty to like about Max and the Magic Marker, such as challenging puzzles, novel ideas and great gameplay mechanics. But the emphasis on creativity won't appeal to everyone - especially those who remember when this was all just fields, pipes and clinky gold rings.

Max & The Magic Marker offers a fun combination of platforming and puzzling. It requires a lot of thinking on the player's part, especially in later levels. The game is short though and sometimes it's tricky to draw the platforms. The graphics are fantastic though and the music is just as good. Worth a try!

Drawing your platforms in platform games is hardly anything new these days. Still, talented developer Press Play has found a really nice touch to the concept and Max & the Magic Marker is a really tricky Wii Ware alternative to Braid.

Although Max may provide a better realization of the "draw-in-your-solution" sub-genre of creativity-driven platformers than what has come before, the Wii remote still cannot offer the accuracy truly needed to make a game like this shine.

There's not much that surprises you.