Good game... kind of?
The first night we had a lot of fun playing through the first levels. It went a little slowly as we were still learning what types of things we could do. Our first excursions into the world of Scribblenauts were a blast, coming up with different things to use and make in game. He eventually took over playing while I went to cook dinner and got several worlds in the game before he stopped playing.
The next morning, the game began to be a let down. I decided to start a new save file since he'd done so much without me, only to discover that there is only one save file available. I'm not sure if you can play a different save file if you use a different Mii, but it was really disappointing having to delete what was essentially my husbands save file, just so I could play the game myself.
While the game is two player, the second player essentially does nothing. The main player can make anything in game from a can of oil to a dinosaur that the second player can take control of, but there is literally no point in having them do that. There's not any place for them to really do anything; it felt like a last minute addition to the game to make it more marketable. After our first few seconds playing 'two player' we just stopped bothering.
The gameplay itself was both good and disappointing at the same time. While you can theoretically 'do anything' a lot of the scenarios you have to help with can only be solved a specific number of ways. When helping a child get a kitten down from a tree, you can stick wings on yourself and go get it, or stick wings on the kid and she can go get it- but you can't put a jetpack in the kid, that won't work. Why?
After a while, the gameplay gets repetitive. There's no real challenge to the game at all- in fact, the most challenging aspect to it that I found was trying to find creative ways to solve the problems that the game presents. Everything is too easily solved with hardly any effort, I went plowing through the stages super fast, and found myself bored with the simplicity of it. Perhaps this would be more fun to a younger person- but to me, the game started to seem like a chore. I wasn't having fun sticking wings on something for the 80th time.
Also, while the game displays on the TV, the only way to play it (that I found at least) was to input your commands on the Wii U's tablet controller. It's nice that someone can watch you play, although both me and my hubby got bored after a time... But your only option is to exclusively use the tablet controller, or spend your time looking back and forth between the TV and tablet. The game looks fantastic on a TV, but you never really get to see it.
Honestly, the game looks great and plays fine, but it's too short and too easily played through. I suppose the item editor that's included with the Wii U version might keep some people occupied, but I'd have rather had more involved puzzles and longer levels with more things to collect.
In any case, I beat the game in under a week after only a few hours of game play, and we promptly returned it to Gamestop for our money back as it was a used copy. If you'd like to play it, I'd recommend renting it first. Either you'll discover you enjoy the item editor enough to make buying it worthwhile, or you'll beat the game before it's even due back and be done with it!