This is without a doubt the age of turn-based word games. Everywhere I go I see people playing “Words with Friends”, “Wordfeud” and “Draw Something”. Today, I’m trying out Words Deluxe, another word game which is playable in both 1 player and a 2 player modes ($1.99, App Store link).
Gameplay
In Words Deluxe you can play 4 different modes which all circulate around making out as many words as possible out of 9 letters.
You can play the “Casual” gameplay which lets you have a nice and relaxed round of the game without any time limit or point goal. Find fun words, long words, short words, whatever you feel like.
In the “Challenge” mode, you have make it above a certain point goal, which basically means that you’ll have to find long words which will give you good points.
In the “Mad Minute” mode, you have to go crazy and just find as many words a possible in a minute. Long, short, doesn’t matter. Just go bananas and try to find as many as you can.
In “Two Player” (which in my opinion is the mode that really makes this game worth it’s money), you are competing with a friend of yours, turn-based, on who can find the most, longest and most point-worthy words with the 9 letters. It is a fun mode which of course can be pressuring, slow-paced and absolutely great.
Settings
This game doesn’t have lots of settings, but the ones that it includes really does provide the player with an opportunity to customize their play into good detail.
You can choose to include or exclude the ‘S’ as a letter to make the game either allow or forbid plurals, shake to shuffle the letters and also choose between UK and US dictionary (which is great!).
Verdict
Rating: 4/5[rating:4]
Words Deluxe is a newly released game but the gameplay is much older that the game itself. I remember playing this game with 9 specific letters in the newspaper when I was a kid, and it was always good fun.
It has given me a few less hours of sleep a couple of nights because I have wanted to “beat my score, just once more”. I have played this with my wife a couple of times too, which (as previously stated) definitely was the most fun.
What it lacks, is Game Center support. And this is definitely a game which I’d like to play against other people on other devices. Turn-based games on the same device is a no-no since Game Center was introduced and I certainly hope that the creator of Words Deluxe will include the support in an update sooner rather than later.
Pros
- Easy and simple to understand
- Playable over and over again
- Good variety of game modes
Cons
- No Game Center
I’m not hesitating when I say this is a game I’ve missed in the App Store. Good fun and many hours of fun. Get it!
