Hitting the Vocabulary Crackpipe

PopCap, the folks behind games like Bejeweled and Insaniquarium, are masters at creating addictive and easy-to-play games. But their latest game, Bookworm Adventures, takes the cake.

You play the part of Lex, an erudite green worm, that battles his way through forests, castles and dungeons, in classic RPG fashion. But instead of twitchy mouse clicks, you defeat your foes by building words, Boggle-style.

You get sixteen letter tiles, which are replaced as you use them. The longer your word and the more ununsual letters that it contains, the more damage you do to your opponents. So far, the best word I’ve been able to come up with is “misestimates”, although “quadrennials” was a close second.

If you bust out a really impressive word, Lex knocks off the enemy using a signature “finishing” move, just like in Mortal Kombat. It’s hilarious.

The user interface is also very well thought-out. You can quit the game at anytime and it automatically saves your progress, so you can play for a few minutes, then hop back into whatever you should be doing.

Check it out. You can download the trial version for free and if you like it, the full version is only $24.95.

Posted by pmk at December 5, 2006 12:03 AM | TrackBack