Wooords review

Been itching for a new word game for your iPhone or iPod touch? Stray Robot Games might have something for you to scratch that itch with. Check out their game app Wooords, a word game with free-form gameplay that imitates letter magnets on a fridge (remember those?). Using your fingers, move the letters to form as many words as possible. Each stage consists of nine letters, which you use to unlock further stages and increase your IQ level. There are three different game modes to choose from.

Classic is a game mode that is not timed, in which you have to find as many words as you can with all the letters provided. Gaining one star is enough to unlock the next puzzle. Daily Words consists of one set of letters given per day (a new set is released every 24 hours)–use it to challenge yourself and other players. Word Jam’s objective is to get through as many rounds as possible by reaching a certain score within time limits. It has a much faster pace than Classic game mode, and is perfect for when you’re looking for a quick game to warm up your brain with.

Like Scrabble, different letters have different point values: for example, the letter Z is worth more than the letter A. In each set, one of the nine letters will be encircled by a glowing ring: all the words created have to include that special letter, or else no points will be given. Submitting a word within five seconds of the last word will give you combo points, and the more syllables a word has, the higher your score will be. In all modes, there will be at least one word that uses all nine letters. Try to get through all 30+ puzzles for maximum word prestige!

Wooords has an adorable interface that does its best to act like magnets on a fridge, complete with a rainbow assortment of letters and clacking drag-and-drop sounds. Even better, the letters are dynamic as they shrink and expand accordingly, depending on where you start your word and how long it is. The mixture of smooth gameplay and cute graphics (they look just like what’s on my fridge!) are a strong foundation for a great game app, and the three game modes are different enough to entice a variety of users; my personal favorite is Word Jam, although I welcome the challenge of gaining three stars on each level. As for the words themselves, it does feel like a bit of a cheat whenever you get an ‘S’ in your set (albeit an awesome and welcome one), and sometimes the accepted words aren’t words at all, which is a not-so-awesome cheat. $1.99 feels like a bit much for a word game, but Wooords is quite addictive and a happy diversion.