Twisting the Night Away with Text Twist
Written: Feb 07 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Addictive, unusual twist on word jumbles, shows how many words of each length are left
Cons: Games repeat, some common words missing from the dictionary
The Bottom Line: Text Twist is one of the most addictive Palm games out there. If you enjoy words or word games I'm sure you'll love it.
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| quasar's Full Review: Text Twist |
As a lifelong reader and writer, I've always been very fond of words, and as an extension word games. I grew up playing killer sessions of Perquackey and Boggle and Scrabble against my mother and swiping puzzle magazines from my dad to try the word jumbles and other word games (although I must admit Cross Sums were and still are my absolute favorite puzzles - I am first and foremost a math geek).
I've long been a fan of Wordlet and Scramblet on the Palm, and last year became addicted to Word Forge for a time. Now I have a new addiction - Text Twist from Astraware.
Based on a web game from Game House, Text Twist is a simple yet decidedly addictive word game. You are given two minutes to form as many words as possible from six random letters. You unscramble the letters to find three, four, five, and six letter words. You need to tap on letters in the order you want them, then tap on Enter to score the word. If you make a mistake you can remove letters by tapping on them one by one, from right to left. You cannot simply remove a letter in the middle of the word. Alternately, you can use the Clear button to move all of the letters back to the draw row. If you're stuck, you can also use the Twist button to shuffle the order of the letters for a different perspective.
Unlike other word jumble games, here your primary goal is to find at least one six letter word in the allotted time. If you do not find a six letter word, the game ends when time runs out. If you find one, you are granted another round in which you also have two minutes to find at least one six letter word.
Once you've found a six letter word and thus ensured the game will continue, your secondary goal is to score points by finding the other words. If you manage to get all of the possible words within the two minute time limit you get a fairly substantial bonus (the exact amount depends on the number of words possible). Be careful if you do this, for a new round will start immediately rather than wait for you to tap to continue as you do between other rounds.
One nice feature of Text Twist is that each of the possible words has a slot on the left side of the screen so you know how many three, four, five, and six letter words are possible while you're playing a round. Furthermore, the words are placed in alphabetical order so if you're trying to find all words possible, you can get a good sense of what words could be left by looking at the letter compositions of the words surrounding blank spots. It helps a lot. However, it might also be nice to have an advanced mode where you don't have these hints.
I've played over a hundred rounds of Text Twist now, really not that much considering each round is only two minutes long and each game consists of multiple rounds. I'm sorry to say I'm already starting to see repeat rounds, to get letters I've already seen before. I'm not sure how many distinct rounds are included in the game and if this is a fluke or not, but I've had at least two repeats already. I could easily see someone playing thousands of rounds of this game, but only if there is sufficiently little repetition that they aren't going to see the same rounds over and over and over.
The word database, over 10,000 strong according to the Astraware website, is adequate. However, there are many words that aren't in the database, some of which are relatively common. Some way to add extra words to the database would be a nice touch.
Also, Astraware is a British company and as an American I've found myself caught unawares by a British spelling I wasn't familiar with. This is particularly nasty when it happens on a six letter word since it usually ends the game. I'm certainly not complaining about a British company using British spellings, but it is definitely something to keep in mind when playing.
All in all, I'm quite happy with Text Twist. As mentioned, I do have some concerns about prolonged replay value, but hopefully those concerns will prove to be groundless. Even if they aren't, I'm enjoying it now and certainly feel it is well worth the $14.95 USD asking price.
Recommended:
Yes
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