There’s something to be said about the painting market. Give someone with the right amount of inspiration a canvas to draw on and the proper tools, and they can create just about anything they see fit. Surprisingly enough, not a lot of game companies have “gotten” this concept, despite the fact that Mario Paint remains one of the brighter spots in the SNES game library (probably because of that nifty SNES mouse peripheral). But THQ is looking to alleviate all that this holiday season with the uDraw tablet, a wireless variation of a device they introduced last year for the Nintendo Wii. This time around, you merely use it like a typical Xbox 360 controller, without the need to connect it via hard wiring. This gives you a little more freedom to draw with it, which is always a nice thing.
This $80 peripheral (currently on sale for $50 over at Gamestop, a good price drop) is a pretty well-sized tablet, with a directional pad on the left side, colored buttons on the right, a stylus that’s attached via a small cable and a drawing screen that’s about the size of your smaller tablet. The design is etched in black, and perfectly aligned in weight, so that kids and adults alike will find that it’s easy to lug around. Now, responsiveness. We found that the drawing action that happens between the tablet and the screen is pretty on-the-mark, though with its 1:1 interaction, there are times it can be a little confusing when it comes to navigation. This is especially true in Instant Artist, the studio drawing game that’s included free of charge with the tablet. You’ll need to use the stylus to guide the on-screen hand directly to your choice, then click down on the tip in order to make the right one. It took us a few tries, even with a talented artist’s hand. (OK, fine, we merely dabbled. Quiet.)
Still, once you do get used to the drawing utensil, you’ll find it’s pretty good, even if the drawing space isn’t as big as, say, the iPad 2. Considering the price, you’ve still got a lot of room to roam with it, and you can draw up something nice in a matter of minutes. Now, that brings us to the game that’s included with the bundle, uDraw Studio: Instant Artist. This is about as basic as a drawing game gets, as you’ll be given a specific set of tools that sit on the outer corners of the screen, while keeping a huge drawing space squarely in the middle. You’ve got various items to select from, including pencils, paintbrushes and other colored items to help bring your works of art to life. Like we said, there is a minor problem with exact navigation, but give it a try for a few minutes and you’ll find everything working fairly enough that you can paint to your heart’s content.
This feature review of the uDraw Game Tablet from THQ concludes on the next page, please click Page 2 below to read our final thoughts on the hardware/software.
