Word King Review

Word games on the android market are a plenty (like WordStone or Words with Friends) and it’s difficult to find ones that warrant your attention, let alone keep it. However, if you are one of those who miss the good old days of playing simple but addictive word games, then Word King will keep you engaged for hours. Reminiscent of old-time board games like Scrabble, Word King is right up there with some of the other best word games of the android market.

The Game

Word King is a word game of the simplest kind. You have a 6×6 selection of random lettered tiles and you use them to make as many words as you can before your time runs out. Each tile you use up gets replaced by a new one, until the point when an unconnected tile will disappear altogether, leaving you with fewer letters to make words with. This obviously makes the game more difficult. Like many word games, proper nouns are not accepted. (Be prepared- this gets quite frustrating when you’ve triumphantly typed out a big word like ‘Neanderthal’, only to have it rejected!).

Your points depend on the length of the words you make- the bigger your words, the more points you get. To go to the next level, you need to rack up a certain number of points before your time runs out. What sets it apart from other word games available is the fact that there are no specific ways in which you need to select the tiles. With most other games online, you can only choose connecting tiles- left to right, diagonally, bottom up etc. Others have pre-chosen words you have to find. Word King asks you to use your own wit, vocabulary and speed to form words. It’s a good way to train your brain and could be used by parents to hone their children’s vocabulary.

The Attraction

Word King, with cartoon graphics and its little purple-robed king, initially may look like a children’s game, but once you start playing, the excitement builds up. With the clock ticking away at one corner and tiles slowly disappearing one by one, you soon find yourself delving deep into your vocabulary, trying to come up with longer words each time, almost as if you have a point to prove. Before you know it, you’re addicted! Each level becomes progressively tougher and thereby, more challenging. You can save your score after the game, and there is an option to see the scores of other players across the globe. Some of these scores look impossible to beat, so get ready to devote time and energy (and maybe a few hours studying a dictionary) to get up there. That said, your words could be as short as 3-letters long, which means even kids can enjoy the game.

The Pain Points

Though the game is overall quite good, there are certain things that you wish were different. You cannot seem to save progress with the same tiles and come back to it later. However if momentarily paused and resumed, a new set of tiles gets reloaded on the screen, which can either work for you or against you. But there is one particular issue that I feel needs to be addressed. Sometimes you miss a letter in a word and need to insert it somewhere in between but this is not supported which can get frustrating when you are playing with a time limit. But there is a ‘clear’ button which removes the entire word typed in forcing you to retype the whole word. Also, the game could have been made more interesting by introducing effects, word bonuses. Currently you cannot challenge friends directly through the game and need to be physically present together unless you download another app for accessing global scores.

The Addiction

The game is pretty good compared to other word games on the market. The graphics are nothing exciting but if you download it nevertheless and start playing, you’ll soon find that Word King has become your go-to game option whenever you’re bored. Those who like playing solo will particularly enjoy it, but if you have friends who have also downloaded it, be prepared to get competitive though you need to be physically present for the excitement to build. Everything considered, the money spent downloading the game is well worth it.

Update Word King on Android Tablets: After we tested Word King on Android Smartphones, we had a quick look at the tablet version. There is one thing that bothered us. The letter buttons had an adapted size, but the letters themselves didn’t. Small letters on huge buttons unnecessarily disturbed the usability of the game.