Boggle Review

The way we usually see things in the app store is that a popular game comes out and then we see the list of clones.  But every once in a while you get it the other way around…

That’s the case with Boggle.  For a while now we’ve seen all the games that are like the classic word hunting game, and we’ve always talked about how these games were “like” Boggle.  If only we could actually play Boggle, and not the clones!

Well, we don’t have to wonder about the “what if’s” anymore.  Electronic Arts has finally put out their version of Boggle and we now have a chance to put it up against all those clones.

Let’s start with a recap of the game play for those very few of you out there who might not have played a word game like this.  You’re presented with a 4X4 grid of random letters and you have to link those letters to form words.  You can link the letters in any direction but you can’t go back over letters once they are used..  The object of the game is to try and get as many words as possible.

It’s a simple concept for a game, the often times the best games come from the simplest of ideas.  It’s also an idea that Boggle has down pat.

Pretty much everything you would expect to find in a mobile version of Boggle is here, including some you didn’t expect.  There are also some things missing, but  I will get to those in a bit.

The overall look of the game is great.  Easily the bettering the clones in overall presentation.  The coolest thing is when you shake up the cubes to start the game.  The 3D look is amazing and gives you the perfect feeling of the real game.  The sound of the game also ads to the value as everything there is also crisp.  In fact, you can even play your own songs if you have a few that are really good for word hunting.

The game comes with some good extras like three game modes (Classic, Advanced, and Self Score) and plenty of achievements and stats.  Classic mode is basically the game you’re used to playing, while Advanced throws in some nice changes of pace to keep you on your toes.  And just to make sure that everything is covered EA gives you a “Self Scoring” mode so that you can decide the length of the game and how you want to score things.

I like the amount of statistics that were added in the game, though a few were confusing.  I liked that they told you the letters you used the most, but it was strange to see 5 letters I used most, and then five I used second most, and 5 I used third most.  The odd part was that often the same letter was in all three areas and sometimes the same letter would be used twice in the same level.

I’m a big fan of achievements and the game is full of them.  I know I’ll be playing this game more just to unlock them all.

The controls of the game are a little mixed.  As with most of the games you can drag your finger from letter to letter to get the word, but Boggle seems to have one of the worst controls for this method.  Often I found letters coming up that I didn’t want in my word.  The preferred method for me was to just tap each letter one by one.  While this seemed like it would take longer I was actually able to tap out the words very quickly.

So there is a lot to love with this game, and before I go into the missing elements, I will say that I’m very happy with the game and will be playing it for a while.

But there are some big mis-steps by EA on this game.  The biggest being that they didn’t include a Pass & Play element to the game.  Yes, you can challenge a friend, but only by sending them an email and then seeing what happens from there.  Seriously?  Who thought that was the way to go on this?  It’s like they forgot that Boggle was a party game.  This is a big, big miss for EA.

I was also surprised that there is no “High Score”  anywhere in the game.  I mentioned that there were a lot of stats in the game, but not a high score.  They have a listing for the most words you’ve made in one game, but not the high score.  And why can’t they have a global scoreboard?

The last miss for me is that there was only room for one for profile in the game.  It would have been pretty easy to add a few more so that you can compare scores with others.  But I guess since they didn’t think that we’d like to pass this to a friend with a challenge, they must think that we all live in our own little pockets and never see anyone face to face.

So the real Boggle finally comes to the app store to challenge the clones.  I have to say that with a few (obvious) fixes that Boggle will easily be the last game of this genre standing on my device.  But until then I’m letting a few other clones stick around.

Boggle by EA is a great game and is almost everything you’d want to carry around with you.  It’s just missing the element of the “party game” that has made Boggle such a classic over the years.

Positives: The Shake Feature Looks Cool, Unlockable Achievements, Different Game Modes, Good Dictionary

Negatives: No Pass & Play?!, Doesn’t Show High Score, Drag Control Is Off