The yellow and red dog-like creature with the green antennas sticking out of the top of its head is called Beefy.  It bounces up on the cobblestones that make up the arena’s ground and sends a shower of lighting bolts at the purple and green mass that looks something like a vampire bat with a baseball bat for a tail.  Suddenly, the bat -- called Stanley for some strange reason -- flops back in defeat as the colors begin to fade right off of it.  This is Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color and Beefy is a creature I designed and brought to life to do battle on my behalf.  Sounds unusual for a PS2 game?  It is and if you love to let your imagination run wild, like I do, you’ll love every second of it.

Magic Pengel appears to be what seems like an adventure game, then again it’s got the appearance of an interesting RPG, but then there’s arenas for battles so what you have is a pleasantly odd mixture of various genres.  Add a drawing tool that comes complete with a pallet of colors and draw-it-yourself pencil tool (that looks like a little cherub with paintbrushes sticking out of it‘s head) and you get a surprisingly unique game set in a world where colors mean everything.

The story places you in a far-off land where men and women brought drawings to life using the magic of colors and imagination.  These creations called Doodles were alive and did the biddings of their creators, or Doodlers, but a human King decided to imprison the Doodles and use color to his own selfish purposes.  The Spirit of Creation, though, punishes the King by releasing the Doodles and thus making Doodlers something of a rarity.  As a result, there are a few Doodlers and you just happen to be one of them.  In the beginning of the story, you wake up and meet a lively girl named Zoe and her kid brother, Taro, who are looking for their foster parent.  Getting involved with them takes you to the kingdom itself to the inevitable showdown.

The game is seen through your own eyes and using your Pengel -- the magical little sprite you use for drawing -- as a cursor to move around the environment or talk with anyone you encounter.  Upon meeting Zoe and Taro, you find yourself in the marketplace where most of the game is spent dealing with the town’s people either buying Doodles or challenging them to Doodle duels in the two arenas.  Meanwhile, you’re caught up with Zoe and Taro’s search for their foster parent while getting into trouble with a few challengers here and there.

Magic Pengel’s most amazing trick is as honing your craft as a Doodler.  You are given a sketch pad where you create your own living and breathing Doodle using a limited amount of color -- at first -- and some basic design tools for making your drawings.  It’s simple enough to use and you pretty much have free reign as to what exactly you want to create ... although you do start with a limited amount of ink.  The more battles you win, however, the more colors and body part types (arms, legs, etc.) you gain.  Your creation also gains higher hit points and magic points.

Doodle duels are designed rather basically.  It uses a rock-paper-scissors method that is governed by a set of simple rules.  In these battles, Magic is stronger than Attack, and Block is stronger than Magic, and Charge allows you to regain hit points but leaves your defenses open.  It becomes something of a guessing game, although gamers will see the pattern the more battles you fight along the way.  These battles get somewhat repetitive, although the battles become more personal since these are your own creations on the battle arena.

I have a few minor complaints, though.  One gripe is that you don’t get to interact much in the way you might do in Dark Cloud 2 or even Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter.  Yet the story is very enticing and you’ll be quickly drawn into it the further you go in this game --which leads to my other complaint.  The game is relatively short and there are many really long load times.  Still, with the two-player Versus mode included in the game and the fact that you can create your own characters, the replay value is very high in this one and that does overshadow most of my complaints.

Visually, Magic Pengel is filled with colorful backdrops and wonderfully animated characters.  There was certainly room for improvement when it came to the textures, but the game does look stunning enough thanks to the plentiful details in the environments as well as the characters.  Watching Zoe and Taro move about the world is as good as watching an animated cartoon, but the best visual feature here is watching your creation come to life, moving their limbs and other features.  This is just as good as watching the colors bleed off your defeated opponents.

The soundtrack can be a bit confusing at first since the main menu music is actually the sound of a mellow Spanish guitar while the rest of the game is filled with upbeat cartoon-like tunes.  You’re even treated to an opening theme song (which I find cute but other gamers might not think of quite as fondly).  The only real downside is the voice acting that isn’t horrible, but not too great either.  Thankfully much of the dialogue is spoken through text.

Extremely innovative and wonderfully unique, Magic Pengel is one of those rare treats that that pop up ever so often without receiving a second glance from gamers everywhere.  This is actually quite unfortunate really since they will be missing out on a game filled to the brim with original ideas, a nice story and your very own creative concoctions that come to life before your very eyes.   If you’re looking for an interesting adventure RPG, give this one a chance -- it might just pleasantly surprise you.

 
Gameplay: 8
The first-person point of view makes you more a spectator rather than a participant in the events that unfold before you.  You have little control over much of your actions, although there are many times where you have to respond to another character’s questions or challenge a character to a Doodle duel.  You’ll feel as if the game is pushing you along to advance the story, but thankfully it’s an interesting one.  The only real disappointment is that this fun story is short.

Doodle duels are just a question of remembering the basic rule of dueling that Zoe is so kind to take you through in the beginning of the game.  The paper-rock-scissors approach to battle does become repetitive but gamers are completely involved in each battle because, hey, it’s your creature out there.  You’ll enjoy getting new body parts and colors to draw add more things to your creatures or design an altogether new creation.  Since the drawing tool is quite simple to use, all that is needed is your own imagination.

Graphics: 7.5
The graphics are actually quite spectacular in places, especially when you’re in the marketplace filled with various colorful shops and people.  The keyword here is colorful and gamers will certainly admire the beautiful colors that make up the Magic Pengel world.  You’ll find lively shopkeepers flailing their arms about trying to sell their wares while a breeze blow strong enough to make the green grass sway or make the sign hanging over the shop swing a little.

The characters are nicely animated, looking exactly like Japanese anime or Saturday morning cartoon characters.  Their animations move smoothly during cutscenes, giving a gamer the feeling that they’re playing an animated movie.  Watching your Doodles come to life is also something of a visual treat, especially the more bizarre looking of your creations.

Sound: 7
The opening theme song is actually pretty cute and thus gives you an idea what the music is like in this game.  You’ll feel like you’re playing a Super Mario game because of the lively little tunes played throughout the game.  There’s a mixture of voice acting and text dialogue found here too, but it’s done with weak voice performances.  Still, the majority of the dialogue spoken is by the two main characters Zoe and Taro while the other characters just read off the first sentence like “Hey, you!”

Difficulty: Easy
Don’t expect a really challenging RPG filled with puzzles and extra mini-games.  While the story takes you through a number of scripted events, the challenges you face are more centered around the battle arenas and the high hit points of your opponents Doodle.  It’s always unwise to go up against an opponent with higher HP than you. 

Concept: 9.0
This game certainly mixes up the genres and the result is a unique game that’s part RPG adventure and part Pokemon-styled creature battles.  The game’s real attraction, though, is the fact that you are the one who creates these creatures using an easy-to-use-drawing tool.  There is no end to a gamers' artistic imagination and watching your Doodle come to fully animated life will just put a smile on your face.  Half the fun is winning battles to get more colors and body parts to add to your creations.  There’s a story here too . . . and it’s a good one, but don’t expect it to stack up to Kingdom Hearts or Dark Cloud 2.

Multiplayer: 8.8
A friend can also bring his own Doodles (saved on his or her own memory card) to battle against your own creations in a Versus battle mode.  Its a lot more fun going up against a friend and it’s an easier way to gain more new colors.  This also adds some extra replay value.

Overall: 8.5
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.  That said, you’d actually have more at stake when it comes to battles since these are your creations.  Plus, there’s a charming little story in a world filled with people and things to do.  Magic Pengel: The Quest for Color is just one of those pleasant rarities that show up out of nowhere (remember ICO, shame on you if you don‘t) so do yourself a favor and pick it up when you see it.  With a low purchase price, how can you not?