Being a huge fan of Taito's overlooked PS2 title Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color, it was impossible for me to not get excited about its spirited sequel, Graffiti Kingdom, especially after Taito stopped by the office to demo the game. Unfortunately, the final product isn't so hot because only half of this game is worth playing. Its developers managed to instill its project with one of the greatest character creation systems of all time, but they forgot to include a good game along with it. The result is a title that'll keep artists enthralled while at the same time miring those seeking a satisfying gameplay experience in its mediocrity.

Magic Pengel's a good game because it's not a one trick pony. I've spent hours painting, but at the same time there's a point to creating all of those battle monsters. The story isn't overly complex, but it's intriguing enough to make me want to forge ahead, and I can talk to townsfolk, buy stuff, and enter my creatures in tournaments to make little boys cry and earn more paint. In other words, Magic Pengel (while not the best in its genre), is just a damn fine videogame, something that Graffiti Kingdom is not. Here, all of the emphasis has been placed on the character creation, and while it's clearly the most impressive system that I've ever seen in a videogame, after filling a stable with a bunch of critters there's little to no point to actually play the game other than to test out your latest creations on the enemies, many of which don't look menacing.

Graffiti Kingdom's best feature is the ability to design whatever animal or mineral that you desire. The game's developers were nice enough to provide numerous characters if you just want to dive into the action, but if you're just using them you're missing the entire point of the game. You're supposed to be letting your imagination soar, and with limitless possibilities you can create anything you wish. For example, you can build the Statue of Liberty and give her kung fu maneuvers, and the cool thing is the drawing system will recognize body parts and accessories, so it'll know that arms should punch and wheels should roll. You can even add wings to your characters, which will of course enable them to fly. However, creating all sorts of videogame characters is the most fun not only because the tools allow for it but also because it feels especially naughty placing Mario and Sonic in here. You won't be designing anything that's Soul Calibur III quality, but if you're good no one will look at your Chun Li and wonder who that is and what game she's from. You can even make her shoot fireballs from her hands!

The whole idea here is to spend hours upon hours tinkering with the Graffiti Notebook and then testing out your newest creations on the battlefield, but I'm disappointed that the actual game isn't that much fun to play. Where in Magic Pengel the writers managed to hook me with a mysterious opening, Graffiti Kingdom's narrative is as typical as they come. You're some kid who's accidentally unleashed a demon onto the land that looks like a mix between the Pringles mascot and Unicron from Transformers, and after being hassled by a creepy box dog known as Pastel and given the power to design his own characters the hero embarks upon a quest to put evil in its place and restore order to the once peaceful land.

It's not exactly the most original of plots, so right away Graffiti Kingdom gives a shaky first impression. Sadly, things didn't get better when I played the game. While I dig the cute and catchy music and the wildly colorful and simplistic graphics, the game just lacks a soul. Not only is it way too easy (bosses and lesser enemies can be pounded flat rather quickly), but I just didn't feel like my characters had any purpose. Why am I beating up all of these cute animals? How come for the most part me unleashing this demon hasn't really altered the world all that much? Sure, I'm having fun creating all of these cool videogame mascots, but I can only navigate them around the simplistic levels for so long, and while fanboys will harp on this final score and remark that I just didn't "get it", officially not getting it means someone would award this game a ridiculously high mark simply because they can make their own version of Crash Bandicoot, and quite frankly, that doesn't necessarily make for a quality gameplay experience.

Thankfully, the versus mode makes up for the ho-hum single-player campaign. It's nothing flashy since all it allows you to do is pit your characters against a friend's, but it's almost as addictive as actually designing things. The burning desire to compete and making alterations to my combatants kept me going for quite a while.

Graffiti Kingdom isn't a horrible game by any means, but it just failed to inspire me, even with all of the customization. I just found it difficult to spend a considerable amount of time creating this awesome character knowing that the appeal of using it would quickly wear off because the actual game is slightly above average. However, I did spent quite a few hours messing around with it, and if we're only going to evaluate this game based on its drawing tools then it's an outstanding product. It'll certainly garner a sizable cult following, and if you love to draw then by all means pick it up, but whereas Magic Pengel is a solid battle monster game, Graffiti Kingdom is a lackluster action adventure title. No matter what your gimmick, it can only take you so far.