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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Puzzle Developer: Interserv International Publisher: Microsoft |
There is a large list of household games that should never make the conversion to a videogame, not even if it is only to the Xbox Live Arcade. Games like Tic-Tac-Toe, Rock-Paper-Scissors, Connect the Dots and
crossword puzzles are just a few that come to mind, but there are certainly a lot more though. “Word Puzzle” which is a word find, received an award from IGN for the most uncreative game name in history, and it feels
like it should be one of the games that should be left to a pencil and paper type of game rather than trying to make its way onto the Xbox 360 console. The game consists of one word search after another with small
variations thrown in to keep it feeling as fresh as possible, which isn’t much with a game of this type. Through the entire experience players couldn’t help but wonder why they are taking so much time out of their lives to
play a game of this type.
While “Word Puzzle” allows players to play in four different languages ranging from English, Spanish, German and French, and there isn’t anything in this game that players wouldn’t be able to find in a local
convenience store for a cheaper price. For 800 Microsoft Points, or $10, players will be given the opportunity to search through a group of letters for a set list of words in eight different environments that all feel a little bit
to similar to each other. There are also three different modes that players can play in: arcade mode, survival mode and free play mode. They are all basically the exact same game. Players will look for words, and when
they find them they highlight the first letter and the last letter and the game fills in the rest of the letters.
Arcade mode is focused on players forming combinations which have players circling words as quickly as possible without allowing the timer to run out before finding all of the words. The amount of letters in the puzzle
continues to expand, along with the overall complexity of their arrangement. Helping players along on their journey in arcade mode is the inclusion of highlighted letters at the beginning or end of a word to point them
out. Players will still have to figure out which direction the word stems, and although it may sound like it makes things too simple and doesn’t offer much of a challenge to the players, and this continues to be very
apparent in the later levels of the game, especially when players have to rotate around four different sides of a cube to search for the correct letters.
Survival mode has players transporting around eight very similar ancient civilizations. Although the game map shows players traveling from one continent to the next, it is quite clear that this was an afterthought and
ends up feeling like one unneeded element of the game in the grand scheme of everything. Survival mode is essentially players working towards finding a similar group of words within a specific time limit. The difficulty
does slowly increase over time, but players will probably never find themselves stuck for more than a few attempts, that is until they reach some of the last levels of the game where they will probably have some issues.
This will remain true whether players are fans of the word search games or if this game is the first time that they have ever tried it.
The one element of the game that differentiates Survival mode is the word bombs that will explode if players are not able to defuse them in a certain amount of time. When they blow up players will see a very annoying
distraction of shadows that will cause players to only play in this mode for a couple of games before giving up. It is very annoying only being able to see parts of the puzzle since players will only be able to see a small
amount of letters around the cursor, leaving the rest of the puzzle in total darkness. It is a small change from the rest of the game, but the distractions are more annoying than anything else.
Players will also be able to play this game over Xbox Live, but the game play is basically a lot of the same thing, only this time instead of having to defuse word bombs, players will need to set them against their
opponent by finding the highlighted word. Scores are tallied by the number of letters in the words that players find in the game, so the final word count might be four to five, but if players have found larger words then their
opponents, they will get the win. It works well but it isn’t very much fun.
Anyone who players this game will probably realize that “Word Puzzle” is a game that would have been better left to the pen and paper of yesterday. The game offers a variety puzzles and a decent puzzle design, but at
the end of the day, players are still doing with a controller something that is much easier and more rewarding to perform with a pencil. For those who are debating whether it is worth purchasing this game, it may be a
better purchase to pick up and word find puzzle book at a local book store or convenience store. Though the game is quite solid, it just doesn’t offer the same experience as the original pen and paper word find puzzles.
crossword puzzles are just a few that come to mind, but there are certainly a lot more though. “Word Puzzle” which is a word find, received an award from IGN for the most uncreative game name in history, and it feels
like it should be one of the games that should be left to a pencil and paper type of game rather than trying to make its way onto the Xbox 360 console. The game consists of one word search after another with small
variations thrown in to keep it feeling as fresh as possible, which isn’t much with a game of this type. Through the entire experience players couldn’t help but wonder why they are taking so much time out of their lives to
play a game of this type.
While “Word Puzzle” allows players to play in four different languages ranging from English, Spanish, German and French, and there isn’t anything in this game that players wouldn’t be able to find in a local
convenience store for a cheaper price. For 800 Microsoft Points, or $10, players will be given the opportunity to search through a group of letters for a set list of words in eight different environments that all feel a little bit
to similar to each other. There are also three different modes that players can play in: arcade mode, survival mode and free play mode. They are all basically the exact same game. Players will look for words, and when
they find them they highlight the first letter and the last letter and the game fills in the rest of the letters.
Arcade mode is focused on players forming combinations which have players circling words as quickly as possible without allowing the timer to run out before finding all of the words. The amount of letters in the puzzle
continues to expand, along with the overall complexity of their arrangement. Helping players along on their journey in arcade mode is the inclusion of highlighted letters at the beginning or end of a word to point them
out. Players will still have to figure out which direction the word stems, and although it may sound like it makes things too simple and doesn’t offer much of a challenge to the players, and this continues to be very
apparent in the later levels of the game, especially when players have to rotate around four different sides of a cube to search for the correct letters.
Survival mode has players transporting around eight very similar ancient civilizations. Although the game map shows players traveling from one continent to the next, it is quite clear that this was an afterthought and
ends up feeling like one unneeded element of the game in the grand scheme of everything. Survival mode is essentially players working towards finding a similar group of words within a specific time limit. The difficulty
does slowly increase over time, but players will probably never find themselves stuck for more than a few attempts, that is until they reach some of the last levels of the game where they will probably have some issues.
This will remain true whether players are fans of the word search games or if this game is the first time that they have ever tried it.
The one element of the game that differentiates Survival mode is the word bombs that will explode if players are not able to defuse them in a certain amount of time. When they blow up players will see a very annoying
distraction of shadows that will cause players to only play in this mode for a couple of games before giving up. It is very annoying only being able to see parts of the puzzle since players will only be able to see a small
amount of letters around the cursor, leaving the rest of the puzzle in total darkness. It is a small change from the rest of the game, but the distractions are more annoying than anything else.
Players will also be able to play this game over Xbox Live, but the game play is basically a lot of the same thing, only this time instead of having to defuse word bombs, players will need to set them against their
opponent by finding the highlighted word. Scores are tallied by the number of letters in the words that players find in the game, so the final word count might be four to five, but if players have found larger words then their
opponents, they will get the win. It works well but it isn’t very much fun.
Anyone who players this game will probably realize that “Word Puzzle” is a game that would have been better left to the pen and paper of yesterday. The game offers a variety puzzles and a decent puzzle design, but at
the end of the day, players are still doing with a controller something that is much easier and more rewarding to perform with a pencil. For those who are debating whether it is worth purchasing this game, it may be a
better purchase to pick up and word find puzzle book at a local book store or convenience store. Though the game is quite solid, it just doesn’t offer the same experience as the original pen and paper word find puzzles.
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