A good game if you like anagrams! (Scrabble 2007 Edition DS)

Member Name: Deb_C

Product:	Scrabble 2007 Edition DS
Date:	21/10/09 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Challenging word game

Disadvantages: You might get bored of anagrams

If, like me, you love playing Scrabble, but your partner, family & friends all hate it, then this game is for you! It provides computerised opponents to play against in a standard Scrabble game, as well as related mini games if you just want a quick anagram fix. For this game is, of course, all about anagrams.

For those who are unfamiliar with the game Scrabble, it is a board game which was first released in 1938 as "Criss-Crosswords", & became popular in the 1950s after the name had been changed to Scrabble. There is a board divided into a 15x15 grid of squares, & a bag full of 100 tiles, on each of which appears one letter of the alphabet. The number of times a letter appears depends on how commonly it is used in English words (assuming you're playing the English version). Each letter also has a different number of points, ranging from 1 for very common letters such as E & N, up to 10 points for Q & Z. There are also 2 blank tiles which score no points but can be used to fill in for any letter of the alphabet.

2 to 4 people can play the game. Each one starts off with 7 random letters from the bag & has to take it in turns to form words on the board, arranging them horizontally & vertically as in a crossword grid. Their score each turn is worked out by adding up the points value of each letter they've placed on the board in that turn. Points may be increased if letters are placed on special coloured squares such as Double Word Score (the score for the whole word is doubled) or Triple Letter Score (the score for that particular letter is tripled). At the end of each turn, the player draws random tiles from the bag to replace the ones they've placed on the board. This goes on until all the letters are used up.

The basic gameplay on the DS is just the same as in the board game. The stylus is used to select letters & drag them into place on the board, & the game works out your score automatically. It contains a comprehensive dictionary & tells you if a word is not allowed. Unlike in the official rules of the board game, you're allowed to keep trying until you've placed a correct word on the board, instead of forfeiting your turn if the word is not in the dictionary.

If you just want to play a standard game of Scrabble, then you choose 'Quick Game', & select between 1 & 3 of the computerised opponents to play against. To begin with, only 1 opponent is available; there are 7 more which can be unlocked by progressing through Career Mode or by playing mini-games (see below). Each one you unlock is slightly better at the game than the previous opponent. I tend to find that the 4th character unlocked, Angelina, is about as good at Scrabble as I am, or perhaps a tiny bit better, so she is the most challenging opponent. I don't bother playing against the next one up as they beat me every time! During the game, the computerised players quickly make their decisions & place their words, so you don't feel like you're waiting around for them.

There are a few options available in a quick game: firstly you can set a time limit per turn or per game (I don't like to use this option as I like to spend a long time looking for the best move!). Secondly, you can play in 'Duplicate' mode, meaning on each turn all the players have the same set of letters & each choose a word to play at the same time, but only the highest scoring one is placed on the board. This is an interesting variation, but I prefer to stick with the classic game.

Career Mode also involves playing standard Scrabble games, however this mode has levels to progress through & you must beat each opponent, starting with the easiest & working up to the more challenging opponents. You can save the game whenever you want to, & if you lose a game you don't have to go back to the beginning, you just play that person again. Personally I found the first 2 really easy to beat, the 3rd a slight challenge, & I still haven't beaten the 4th (out of 8 opponents altogether!). As you progress, more opponents are unlocked for the Quick Games.

One of the best things about Scrabble DS is the mini-games. There are 3 of these:

1) "Anagrams": you are given 5 letters & have to make as many anagrams as you can using all of them. It tells you on the top screen how many there are to find. Once you've found them all, you're given another set of 5 letters to find the anagrams from. This continues until you run out of time (5 minutes). (If you can't find all the anagrams from a particular set of letters, you can skip that set.) You can also play this in hard mode, which has sets of 7 letters. I find this quite fun & a good challenge on normal mode, but on hard mode I find it so difficult that it gets boring. Some people may find it slightly annoying that around 40% of the anagrams you need to find will be words you've never heard of, however I quite like the challenge of guessing what might be a real word, & if you really get stuck you can always skip (it then tells you the words you've missed).

2) "Escaletters": You start with a 3-letter word, & then are given the letters of that word plus a 4th to make a new word with. You're then given those 4 letters plus a 5th to make another word with, & so on (up to a 6-letter word in normal mode & a 7-letter word in hard mode). You then start with another 3-letter word, & carry on until your 3 minutes are up. I find this quite fun in both modes, & again you can skip in places if you're stuck.

3) "Puzzletters": You have a 7x9 grid of random letters & have to rearrange them to form words - you swap adjacent letters until you've formed a word across or down & then highlight it with the stylus. A timer ticks down at the side of the screen & you have to form at least 1 word before it runs out (2 in hard mode); if you can do this you get to carry on playing. As far as I can tell, this game could potentially go on forever if you keep finding words, & because it has no set ending then I tend to get bored of it. It's also quite cumbersome & time-consuming swapping adjacent letters around until you've formed a word.

You can play multiplayer games with other people who have a DS by using the DS Wireless Communications mode, but I haven't tried this.

This game is very easy to play, especially if you are already familiar with Scrabble. If not, the top screen displays tips telling you what to do. This screen also tells you the meanings of words that have been played, which is particularly useful for the weird words some of the computerised opponents come up with! The extensive dictionary does in some ways give the opponents an advantage as they are able to use words most human players would not know. The use of these words also occasionally makes the mini-games a bit difficult.

Although the box states 3+, I personally would not recommend it for children unless they are already fans of the board game. Younger children would almost certainly get bored very quickly. Also the game has been mentioned in the press because the computer sometimes uses words that aren't really appropriate for children, however you can set a child's account on the game to "Junior Mode" to avoid this.

The game allows 2 different player accounts to be saved at any one time.

Overall, this is a challenging & fun title that you can come back to from time to time for a quick game.

Summary: A fun, challenging word game