Stencil Art

Genre: Art Application

Players: 1

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Review:

Stencil Art is a family-friendly Art Application released on Nintendo Switch in 2020 that attempts to simulate the act of spray painting graffiti using stencils.

To be clear, this is a very hand-holding experience – players aren’t given any choice in which stencils to use in each of the locations, aren’t given any choice where to place them, are given a range of patterns for each stencil that all feature a similar color that highly limits potential variation, aren’t able to mix-and-match these patterns, and cannot even opt to complete a stencil only partway before continuing on to the next in the set. As such, don’t expect to have much creative input into the art that you’ll be making here.

In terms of control options, players are given quite a few. They can use traditional gamepad controls, they can use the touchscreen, or they can opt to use gyroscopic motion controls. The first two of these worked fine, but the gyroscopic motion controls are problematic, as they always default to the center of the screen when you press the button, and you cannot move the cursor without also spraying… not that it matters, the software won’t let you move on until you fill the entire thing anyway.

As for the art in this software, it’s nice and fits the graffiti theme well, but isn’t anything extraordinary. Surprisingly, what I liked best about Stencil Art is the mellow synthesized music that plays in the background as you’re using it.

However, while this game looks and sounds decent enough, the lack of control or artistic input players have here is really depressing in an Art Application. A small child with an interest in graffiti may find this amusing for a short while, but I suspect they will feel just as creatively stymied as an adult when they try to put their own creative flair on things. As a result, I can’t imagine Stencil Art appealing to just about anyone.

tl;dr – Stencil Art is a family-friendly Art Application that simulates spray painting elaborate designs using stencils. Unfortunately, the player has very little creative control over the art they’re making, resulting in a frustrating experience that will get old quickly, even for younger players. Skip it.

Grade: D+

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