Scrabble (GBA) (Scrabble (GBA))

Member Name: thole09

Product:	Scrabble (GBA)
Date:	28/05/09 (13 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some gameplay

Disadvantages: Audio

"Scrabble Blast!" is a video game released for the Gameboy Advance console in 2005 by Destination Software. It is blasted on the popular board game "Scrabble". In the United States, the game received a rating of "E" by the ESRB panel which deemed it suitable for all ages.

Scrabble Blast is a new take on Scrabble Solitaire. The game is presented as a small grid where the player must connect a random assortment of letter tiles to form words. This word formation will remove the tiles from play and drop new tiles to replace the ones just removed. This process will continue until all tiles have been removed from the "bag" and put into play, and the player has further removed all tiles from the "bin" on the display. Score is kept throughout the game and follows traditional Scrabble scoring rules with letter tiles bearing their original point instructions. At random intervals, a tile will be coloured to reflect a scoring bonus such as a blue letter tile containing a double word score bonus. This further adds to the accuracy of a Scrabble game but "Blast" confines itself into being just that; Scrabble Blast. There is no traditional Scrabble board game included in this video game release. While other game cartridges exist for traditional Scrabble play, it seems appropriate that developers would include the "original" game to compliment their product. Such is not the case here.

The graphics are presented from a top down perspective which focuses on the game in play. There is little to describe by the way of graphics in this release. The Scrabble tiles bear their traditional wood grain colouring and can be filled by a solid colour to denote an available bonus score. Each of the words which the play enters is entered into a list which occupies the left of the screen and are clearly legible. The soundtrack is also simple with one musical score looping throughout play. Needless to say, this can become very repetitive in a puzzle atmosphere.

Overall, Scrabble Blast is a game which I would be hesitant about recommending to prospective buyers. It does present a playable alternative to traditional Scrabble but is not one which I find myself overly interested in for extended periods of time.

Summary: Thumbs in the middle