IF YOU LIKE WORD GAMES YOU'LL LOVE THIS (PC Games in general)

Member Name: junkboxjules

Product:	PC Games in general
Date:	15/01/03 (340 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Four word games on one reasonably priced CD ROM, Disk includes anagram maker and crossword solver, Educational as well as fun

Disadvantages: I'd prefer the Countdown game to be able to be played directly on the computer and not on paper but otherwise none

At work I don't have access to the Internet so I decided to dig out some of my old PC games and install them at work to play when I have 5 minutes spare to laze about.

One of the games I dug out was a word games disc that I used to play a lot before we got the Internet at home, since having the Internet I don't think it has seen the light of day, until this week when I dug it out.

The game is simply called Word Games For Windows, it is Manufactured by Guildhall Leisure Services Limited and is sold in CD ROM Format. As the title suggests you will need to be running Windows in order to install the games but other than that there is not any system requirements detailed on the packaging. At work our computer is at least 3 years old and it is very basic - we don't have any problems running the game there so I would imagine that provided you are using a reasonably modern computer that runs using Windows then you would probably be able to install the game quite successfully.

The disk contains 5 games - in order for you to be able to evaluate each game I am going to detail each game separately.

What's Up

What's Up is played in exactly the same manner as the board game Upwords, for the benefit of those who haven't played Upwords I will explain how the game is played.

This is a game for up to 4 players - you can opt to play the game either alone, against the computer or with up to 3 other human competitors.

There is an option to chose player skill levels at the beginning of the game, if you don't change them they remain on the default setting which is midway, (not too easy but not overly hard either). I don't generally bother with this as I find that the default setting is a good place to play from, however, it is a good idea if you are playing against the computer and want a more challenging game as it allows you to increase the computers skill level, similarly if are findin
g the default level to hard and you cannot beat the computer you can reduce the computers skill level to a more appropriate level to suit yourself. The skill level is also great for when children are playing so that they can set the computers level to match their own levels to give them a chance of winning and consequently boost their egos and increase their interest in playing the game - not realising that whilst they are playing the game they are also educating themselves.

Once you have selected the number of players, and set their skill level, (if you wish), you are ready to play. In order to commence the game you need to click on the start button and this will deal each player seven lettered tiles.

If you are playing against the computer it will decide who is going to play first, but if you are playing with other people the players are numbered 1-4 and you will play in numerical order.

The idea of the game is to make as long a word as possible from your seven lettered tiles in order to score points. When you have decided upon a word you need to drag your letters to the tiled board and make the word, when you are satisfied with your word you have to click finish. Play then passes to the next player. The next player can then lay his/her word - unlike Scrabble where you can only make words using the existing letters, with What's Up you can actually lay tiles over the tiles that are already in place in order to change them into different words, you can also change one letter within the existing word and go on to make a new word off this word - enabling you to score more points.

For example, if the word on the board was "BOSS" and it was your turn, assuming you had the correct letters, you could turn "BOSS" into "LOSS," again assuming you have the correct letters you can then go on to make another new word which includes the letter "L" - so if you had the letters M, I, L & K you c
ould make the word MILK and where you have laid the "L" over the "B" from "BOSS" you have now also created the new word "LOSS." It sounds complicated but it isn't, it is simply harder to explain to you in words, it would be much easier to show you, unfortunately this isn't possible.

All words must be listed in the games build in dictionary - if you have chosen a word that the computer doesn't recognise, but you know that the word does exist, (even if only in your own made up language, lol), there is an option to add the word to the dictionary so that in future the computer will recognise the word as being legitimate and acceptable.

If, when it is your turn and you cannot go, because you cannot make a new word with the letters you have got and those available on the board, you have an option to pass, if you pass you can then swap letters, in order to swap a letter you need to click on the letters you wish to discard and the computer will reissue you with new tiles, if you do opt to pass, the pass counts as your turn and play moves to the next player and you don't score any points for that turn.

As well as the lettered tiles there are also a couple of blank tiles, if you are dealt a blank tile you can use it as any letter you like. Just lay the word on the board and click done, the computer will then ask you to select which letter you wish the blank tile to be, your chosen letter will then be marked on the blank tile.

You can build over the top of each tile 5 times, the more times that you reuse a tile the higher the points value.

The game continues in the same fashion until all the tiles are used, if you cannot use all your tiles the computer will deduct points from your total score at the end of the game.

This is my favourite game on the disk and I would give it 5/5.

Letter Rack

This is the poor mans version of Scrabble, it is exa
ctly the same as the board game Scrabble, but as it isn't called Scrabble you can purchase it as part of this multi-game CD for a fraction of the price of the computer Scrabble game.

Again, the game can be played with 1-4 players and skill levels can be set. You can opt to play against the computer, alone or with up to 3 other humans.

At the beginning of the game seven lettered tiles are dealt to each player. Each lettered tile is worth points, vowels are worth 1 point each and the consonants vary from being worth 3 - 10 points each, depending on how difficult they are to place into a word - i.e. Z is worth 10 points and R is worth 3 points, obviously there are a lot more words containing the letter R and therefore it is easier to make a word using the letter R than it would be to make a word using the letter Z. There are also two blank tiles, they can be used as any letter but they are not worth any points.

The aim of the game being the same as What's Up - to make the longest word possible with the letters available, and to score as many points as possible in the process. However, unlike What's Up you cannot build on top of existing tiles. You can use a letter contained within a word that is already on the board, provided that you can fit your word around the existing words on the board without creating any new words that aren't legitimate. Similarly to What's Up you can, create more than one word. Once you have had your turn play moves on to the next player and so on.

There are bonus squares dotted randomly across the board, if any of the letters in your word are placed onto a bonus square you can score extra points. The bonuses available are double word score, double letter score, triple word score and triple letter score.

If, when it is your turn and you cannot go, because you cannot make a new word with the letters you have got and those available on the board, you have an option to
pass, if you pass you can then swap letters, in order to swap a letter you need to click on the letters you wish to discard and the computer will reissue you with new tiles, if you do opt to pass, the pass counts as your turn and play moves to the next player and you don't score any points for that turn. If you wish to cheat there is a help button you can press and this will get the computer to find the highest scoring word you can make using the letters in your rack.

The game has a built in dictionary and all words must be contained within the dictionary to be valid - having said that if the dictionary rejects your word and you know that it is a legitimate word then you can add it to the dictionary.

The game ends when all the letters have been used, or when none of the players can make a new word with the tiles that they are left with. Any left over tiles are deducted at the end of the game - it is therefore worth getting rid of your higher scoring letters early in the game so that if you are left with tiles you don't lose loads of points at the end of the game.

This is my next favourite game although I do find it confusing to play straight after What's Up as I keep trying to put tiles on top of each other, which of course in this game you can't do.

Word Blitz

Word Blitz is a completely different game all together. Word Blitz is a game for one player to play against the computer.

There is a grid containing a minimum of nine letters, you can go into the player settings and add more rows and columns, up to a maximum of a 6 x 5 square, (30 letters in total), and the aim of the game is to beat the computer to make eight words containing three letters of more. You cannot have the same words as the computer and therefore speed is of the essence. To make the game more complicated there are also key letters thrown in and your words must contain the key letters to be valid.

There are thre
e different ways of playing this game, as follows.

Anagram

All the letters within the grid are available to play, however, every entered word must contain all the 'key' letters, the key letters are those with a black typeface.

Tree Mode

In tree mode only buttons adjacent to an already selected button are available, thus making the game more complicated and more challenging.

Snake Mode

Snake mode is similar to that of Tree but the only buttons available are those adjacent to the last selected button, again this is more complicated and more challenging still.

This is a another good game, I don't play it as often as the first two games but I like the fact that the game has different skill levels and modes of play so you can tailor the game to suit your own needs to make it as challenging as you like.

Foreword

This isn't actually a game but more of a lexical tool to help you to solve crossword clues where you have missing letters or to enable to create anagrams.

To use it as an anagram generator you just need to type in the word or letters you wish to create an anagram of and 'Foreword' will come up with a list of possible anagrams.

To use Foreword as a crossword solver to enable you to find missing letters you just have to type in the letters that you have and place a # where you have a missing letter - Foreword will then present you with a list of possible words.

Foreword is actually shareware and you are advised that "Foreword is Shareware software and as such is totally free to use and distribute but the software must be registered if you continue to use ForeWord after 30 days. There are no nag screens or any other restrictions."

I rarely use this but haven't ever had any problems accessing it well after the 30 days.

Countdown Cracker

If you like the television programme Countdown then y
ou will love this game.

Based on the television series the Countdown Cracker offers you the option to solve either a letters puzzle, numbers puzzle or conundrum. You can select whether you want to solve a letters puzzle, numbers puzzle or conundrum or you can hit the random select button where the computer will chose the puzzle for you.

The game will provide you with the numbers or letters and a clock that will count down the time, however, you cannot type your answers in so you will need a pen and paper to play this game.

At the end of the time limit you can press the solve button and the computer will list all the possible answers. In the numbers game the computer even offers details of all the possible solutions.

I don't dislike this game but rarely play it because of the need to use pen and paper to play the game - personally I would be much more likely to play the game if I could type my answers into the computer and check them at the end of the time limit.

I paid £10 for this game about 3-4 years ago and it is one of those games that won't date and will continue to provide hours of entertainment for ever after. If you like word games and a challenge I would highly recommend this game to you. It is also a good educational game for children to play, my 9 year old son loves playing What's Up, he particularly enjoys it because he can set the computer skill levels to match his own and therefore create himself with a challenge.

I believe that this product is still available from selected High Street outlets, I bought it in GAME about 3-4 years ago, but I don't know if they still stock it. However, as I'm very kind I have done a bit of research and have managed to find the game on a website called education4today, they currently stock it and sell it for £8.00, if you want to take a look for yourself you can copy the following link and you will be taken directly to the correct page, http:
//www.education4today.com/product_detail.cfm?DBID =183.

Thank you for reading and if you decide to purchase this game - ENJOY :)

Julie

Summary: