If you still haven’t finished your Christmas shopping then I’ve got another excellent game idea for you. Make sure you hurry up though, as you haven’t got all that long left!

The Nintendo DS has given rise to a fair number of innovating ideas due to its touch screen (it has also churned out a lot of poor quality titles, some of which shove in tacky uses for the touch screen where it’s not really needed in that particular game), but none go to the extent that developer 5th Cell does. Their latest title, Drawn to Life, uses the touch screen to allow the player to draw. The unique part of this is that the player has to draw the hero they’ll be playing as throughout the game. That’s not all though; as the player also needs to draw the vehicles, weapons and platform elements that make up each level.

While its colourful artsy charm and relatively simplistic gameplay will appeal mostly to kids, it’s also a great game for us creative types. I have spent ages trying to create the perfect character and weapon, and then smiling with pure glee when I see my creation walk around the game. The character does have a cardboard cut-out feel to it, and does walk around a little wonky, but I say that it only adds to the overall charm. You will also discover that the game is mostly about drawing, which is why I say the game is perfect for kids at an age that they should be expressing their creativity. They won’t find the gameplay too hard, and they’ll have great fun creating the missing parts of the game.

5th Cell is currently working on a new game, Scribblenauts, that sounds even more innovating than Drawn to Life. Apparently you can write the name of any object on the touch screen and it will spawn it. Check out my blog post for more on the game.