The Wonderbook came out at the end of 2012 to little fanfare and a less than impressive chart entry. The problem? I’ve no idea. The Wonderbook is beautifully made, feels very high quality and works a treat with Book of Spells. Diggs Nightcrawler takes things a little different by using the Wonderbook literally as a story book.
Diggs is a crime caper aimed squarely at the junior school age. Diggs is a spider sleuth whom takes you under his wing in the attempted murder of Humpty Dumpty. Each character is excellently voiced and the story itself is perfectly pitched. What stands out in the game itself is the high quality of the little details everywhere. There are hat tips to so many nursery rhymes with fun jazzy numbers and cameos. It’s an absolute pleasure to sit and watch.
In terms of actual gameplay you have the main story itself which is completed within 3-4 hours easily. There’s plenty of twisting, turning, tilting and rubbing of the book itself and the move controller is used for collecting photo evidence as a second run through. It’s more an interactive story than an actual game but then it utterly plays that to its strengths. If you’re over the 8-12 age bracket there’s some funny double meanings to keep you going and the way how Diggs talks to you as the Narrator to keep you always included in the action. That’s genius.
Positives
~Superb characterisation
~Very high quality visual and audio direction
~Better use of the Wonderbook than Book of Spells
Negatives
~Few specific mini games that break the story action
Conclusion
Far more fun than Book of Spells, Diggs Nightcrawler is an excellent interactive story