Spelltris Review

I’m always looking for new word games. And when I mean “new” word games, I’m not talking about a new game that’s come out… I figure I’ve bought pretty much every genre of word game in the App Store. No, when I’m talking about “new” games I’m looking for something that adds a little something new to the field. Even slight twists are usually enough for me to jump on a game.

And so my eyes quickly turned to Digital Chocolate’s newest word game, “Spelltris”. One look at the name tells you a little about what it is… you spell words and there’s a “Tetris” slant to it all. That alone told me that there was a good chance I’d be picking it up, but I was holding out a little big because I’ve played games that have claimed to mix these two forms.

That was when I saw what they were going for and I stopped a few sentences into the description and started downloading.

Yes, Spelltris is a blend of games like Wurdle and Tetris, but they’ve also added a story element to it. Combine that with the ease of play and professional presentation and you’ve got a great way to spend some hours.

The story of Spelltris is that of a Princess who has been locked in the tower by an evil witch (both are “hot” by the way – you’ve got to love the gaming world). You play a knight who will scale any tower to reach his beloved. Only the way you climb up these walls is by spelling words.

To the right of the tower is a 3 X 3 grid of letters and you can touch any of them to try and form the longest word possible. You can only use one letter at a time, but you don’t have to worry about whether or not the letters are touching. Once you submit your word the letters will disappear and new ones will fall from the top to replace them. You can even see the first letter in each row that will fall.

The key to the game is making the longest words possible. Longer words are worth more points and the object of the game is to score enough points per round to make it to the Princess’s window. You could actually use every letter in the round and still not make enough points to make it to the top… which means you’ll fall to your death.

To help you’ve got a sword that can break up blocks that are doing you no good. But be warned… it means you’ll have less letters to get to the top. Using the sword should be a last resort.

The game play is very easy. Just tap the letters you want to use and then tap the word at the bottom to submit. There is a “delete” button that will allow you to back space over letters you don’t want to use.

The sounds for the game are really good. I particularly love the music that plays during the game. It is very fitting with the mood.

The graphics for the game might be the only thing that I found lacking. It’s not that the artwork isn’t good, it’s just that nothing much gets done with them. The opening story uses still images and I think even a little movement would have helped.

There are two different modes in the game; the story and Quick Play. I was really happy to see that Digital Chocolate also through in plenty of achievements to unlock. That always brings in the replay value.

About the only thing I’d really add to the game is some sort of multi play function. Right now the game has no time limit, which is good for strategy, but it would be really fun to play against another “knight” to see who makes it to the top first. It might be a bit much to ask, but if it can be done, Digital Chocolate can do it.

I may have a lot of word games on my iPhone, but when one is as fun and challenging to play as Spelltris, I’m always happy to make more room.

Positives: Great Slant On Word Games, Bit Of A Story, Nice Music, Good Challenge

Negatives: Some Animation In The Story Would Help

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Tags: iphone puzzle app, Puzzle games, Spelling games

Category: Games