Worbble, the new word game from Mile Nine Studios, unfortunately has only two modes and there is no way to compete with friends apart from leaderboards. Seeing this limitation, the price tag of $1.99 seems a bit high. If you are into word games and like testing your spelling and general knowledge skills you can give this game a shot.
The above-mentioned games have two distinct advantages. Firstly, they are a digital translation of board games that we have grown up playing and secondly, they are absolutely free.
Today we have another entry to the word game category – Worbble (Word meets Bubble). The game is priced at $1.99 on the Apple App Store and the Google Play store. Is it worth the price of admission or are you better off sticking to the tried and tested?
Design
The interface of the game is very simple and works in two modes that can be selected from the home screen. The game has an underwater theme to it and all the letters appear in bubbles. You also have the underwater flora and fauna in the theme, which gives the game a cartoony Finding Nemo feel and that is a good thing, especially for the young crowd.
.jpg "All the alphabets float on the screen in cute little bubbles.")
The background music of the game is bad and you will find yourself switching it off the minute you power up the game. The popping sound that you get upon selecting each letter is nice and acts as a feedback every time you hit a letter.
As mentioned earlier, the cartoony nature of the design is really nice but the resolution doesn’t seem optimized for the iPad’s Retina Display. Textures aren’t crisp around the edges but the colours do look vibrant.
.jpg "Navigating the levels is very simple")
Gameplay
The objective of the game is simple. Burst the bubbles to form words and rank up the leaderboard. The game offers user two modes to choose from – Word Mode and Quiz Mode.
Word Mode
You can either play the game here in easy, medium or hard. The objective is simple. You have limited time and you have to burst bubbles to make as may words as possible to cross the target score. You do get a bunch of power ups on the way. These power ups include special abilities such as bubbles that stop time, gain time and freeze bubbles. These power ups are quite handy, as the alphabets seem to float on screen all over the place.
.jpg "The game offers power ups to tip the scales in your favour.")
In the limited time available, you have to make as many words as possible. You are given targets such as three four-letter words, two five-letter words, one six-letter word and more. Reach the targeted score in time to move to the next level. The targets keep increasing as you progress through the game.
.jpg "The scorecard shows you the number of words you have made.")
Quiz Mode
Quiz Mode is a different ball game altogether. Here, you have a limited time to answer a question. The questions range from general knowledge to Greek Mythology and even math. If your general knowledge sucks, there is a hint mode that adds a vowel in the answer, and that isn’t really much of a hint if you aren’t aware of the topic. Thankfully, you can skip a question that you don’t know. You can skip three questions in a game. The downside to skipping a question is that you wont know the answer to the skipped question. You have to wait for the timer to run out to know the answer to the game and then its game over.
.jpg "Some of the questions in the Quiz More are really tough.")
Overall, the gameplay is quite simple. Tap the bubbles to select the alphabets. If you have selected a wrong alphabet or want to undo a selected alphabet, there is a backspace button at the bottom left. The bottom left also indicates your selected alphabets. The top left houses the timer in the Word Mode and the hints left in the Quiz Mode.
.jpg "The answer in Quiz Mode only comes once you have let the timer run out.")
Our Take
Worbble unfortunately has only two modes, with no way to compete with friends apart from leaderboards. Seeing this limitation, the price tag of $1.99 seems a bit high. If you are into word games and like testing your spelling and general knowledge skills you can still give this game a shot.
Platforms: Android (download here) and iOS (download here)
Price: $1.99 (Rs. 110 approx.)
Rating: (3 out of 5)
.jpg "The top left corner houses the number of hints you have left.")