Vocab U review

To be honest, the vocabulary levels of the average person nowadays could probably use a good boost. Enter Gold Brothers Entertainment’s new iPhone app, Vocab U, to the rescue. Vocab U is a word puzzle game that combines the best of Word Scramble, Find-A-Word, and your own knowledge. To win the game, you have to solve 50 word puzzles (grouped in five separate levels of ten words each) by using one or more definitions and a Scramble Word. The Scramble Word will be the same for each level, and all the letters of the word you have to find are in the Scramble Word. Just tap a letter to drag onto and fill the empty boxes, and try to make a word that fits the definition given. You can go back and forth between the ten words on a level by using the arrows, even if you haven’t quite figured out a prior word; all ten words must be solved before you can move on to the next level. The word puzzles will become more and more challenging as you finish each level.

Once you solve a word, the game will automatically move to the next word and you will receive a certain amount of points (depending on how difficult the puzzle was). Those points can be used to buy hints or a second definition (both are ten points each); you can also use the shuffle button to help jog your brain. There are two game modes: Classic Game and Clock Crunch. The former can be played at your leisure, while you’re racing against the clock in the latter. Results can be posted on Facebook or Twitter, to challenge all your brainy friends.

Vocab U hosts about 250,000 words and definitions, so you definitely won’t be at a loss for new material once you finish the game a couple of times; replay value is extremely high with this game app. It’s the perfect game to dust off your brain with and get some gears grinding in your noggin; you won’t believe how tricky some of those four-letter words are. The layout of the game is well-designed (not confusing at all), and the graphics are quite colorful…nothing really to write home about, but that’s not exactly what you’re using this app for, anyhow. The sound effects are rather elementary and there’s no background music, but there’s a nice option to play your own music, if you wish. Sometimes the letters have trouble sticking to where you want them to land, and the only solution is to slow down; perhaps a button to resituate letters onto the Scramble Word bar would make things easier for users. These are only minor quibbles, of course, as the true strength of this iPhone app is in testing your intelligence, which is carried out quite excellently (and sometimes painfully; no cheating now, put down the Internet). Bravo, Gold Brothers, for creating an app that is both educational and addictingly fun.

Here is a video demo of the Vocab U app on the iPhone

AppSafari review of Vocab U was written by Julie Guan on February 2nd, 2010 and categorized under App Store, Education, Featured, Fun, Games. Page viewed 5078 times, 3 so far today. Need help on using these apps? Please read the Help Page.