Drawful 2 Review. Inventive but Annoying

Drawful 2 draws from the Jackbox Party game series, bringing party humor in its trivia gameplay method. However, Drawful 2 doesn’t live up to its predecessors and instead ends up being nothing more than a sad nuisance.

Graphics: 2.0

The graphics are quite minimalistic, right from the start menu which contains four simple options including Play and Make Your Own. Avatars are as basic cartoons as they come. The drawings also look like something out of a child’s playbook (which might have been the objective probably). You’ll also see a lot of on-screen prompts. I feel like, the developers aimed for maximum simplicity with the graphics, but the idea just didn’t cut it for me.

Gameplay: 3.5

The gameplay would probably have been better if real online multiplayer was supported. However, you’ll need a Twitch account supported on several local devices. Alternatively, you can open multiple browsers on a single PC to play.

Anyway, with Drawful 2, players are instructed by an on-screen moderator to draw pictures based on the prompts provided on their devices. These prompts are often unclear and humorous. Once players have created these pictures, the next step is for a random picture (selected from the provided prompts) to pop up on the screens of the players, except that of the player who drew it. Players then type in what they believe is the answer to that prompt. The next step is to mix up the prompts including the answers provided by the players, the original prompt (which is the correct answer) and a few random prompts to make it even more complicated. The players are now shown the entire collection of prompts, and they are required to choose what they think is closest to the answer. Correct answers award points to both the artist and the guesser.

Controls: 2.5

You need to have an input that can allow you to draw, so a touchscreen device or a controller which supports a stylus pad should suffice. The game is based primarily on on-screen prompts, and your job is to respond to these prompts. Once potential answers are provided, you simply have to click on the one that you think is correct. For a minimalistic game, the controls are quite convenient, but again, I can’t use the Xbox for which this game was bought.

Replay Value: 1.0

Even if it weren’t for the terrible graphics, this game should have at least made it possible to play on the Xbox. While there are customizable options which help tailor the game to different audiences, this still doesn’t take away from the sheer lack of gameplay. If you didn’t bring a touchscreen device along, you’ll end up having to create a Twitch account, or have several browsers running on the PC concurrently.

Conclusion

I just wonder, why would a game be sold on a platform on which it can’t be played? The developer doesn’t even make a remote attempt at providing a fun experience with this game, even with the awkwardly animated graphics. You can get yourself a few game scores quickly, and the final achievement may require you to sit down for a few more hours, but the effect is never worth the grinding.