 Much, much better than Scrabble 2003 |
| Review Date: January 9, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Paul R. H. Jacomb, Chippenham, Wilts, UK |
I originally owned Scrabble for the Psion 3a about 10 years ago, which, given the limited monochrome display, was a great game. I moved on to the Win 95 version for PC, which was marvellous, no fancy 3D display but amazingly fast. You could even set it to play itself on level 9 (full Scrabble words dictionary at it's disposal) and the game was over in about 2 seconds, both "players" usually scoring 500+!!
With the demise of my Windows 95 PC, I naturally assumed the progression to the 2003 edition a few years ago would result in a still more improved game - NOT SO!! The 2003 game was slow, lumbering, difficult to set up, and I never finished a game on it. In fact I threw it away.
I've recently seen Scrabble 2005 for less than £10, and, ever optimistic, I guessed that a company like Mattel MUST have listened to the criticisms they undoubtedly received about Scrabble 2003.
And sure enough, they appear to have done so. GONE are the fancy graphics, slowly "floating" you tiles on to the board, and back are the fast, manual and intuitive "point and type" methods for board entry. The board is smaller than I remember it, and stuck in a 3D mode, but it's quite acceptable. However, the training extras, example games, and different modes of play are all there, and all appear to work perfectly adequately.
I can't grumble about any feature of the game - except maybe that it doesn't appear to let you just manually sort the tiles on your own rack, as you would if playing the game manually. I did find this a little irritating, if there is a way around it I haven't found it yet. It's something you get used to when playing, but I'm sure having a manual arranging facility would allow me at least an extra 10-20 points per game by getting better words out.
This is not an evolution of 2003 Scrabble at all - it looks and feels like a totally new game. I'm convinced Mattel must have commissioned Ubisoft to get a totally new version done - and they've done a great job. |
Tarty Scrabble
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| Review Date: December 1, 2006 |
| Reviewer: G. Lloyd, Edinburgh |
Okay, okay, it's Scrabble and there is precious little that you can do to tart it up. However, tart it up this lovely little game has. There are three boards to play on - the Standard, White and Deluxe. You can choose a background and atmospheric noises based on one of the four Seasons. When actuall playing a game of Scrabble there is the option to have your game timed, you can choose to switch on the in-game dictionary not only to check the spelling of words but also to check how many hooks that particular word has and there is an scrabble mentor who will tell you what the highest scoring word using your tiles is and where to place it. All of these options can be switched off if, unlike me, you are not a shameless cheat and do not mind losing to the computer. Alongside the Scrabble there are various other word games that may appeal, I have found them to be a boon to my Scrabble playing ability. All of these little touches certainly add to the appeal of this game.
At my level I am unable to give feedback on the, if any, strategy the program uses. The computer may have been playing defensively at Master level but it looked aggressive enough to me as it wiped me clean off the board.
If you like Scrabble and are don't have enough humans willing to sacrifice themselves upon that altar of your awesome vocabulary then I would buy this game and try to pummel your computer. I will admit that it is not as satisfying to laugh and poke fun at your computer when it loses.
Incidentally, I am unsure what kind of board the reviewer who only gave this one star was expecting but the usual 4 sided, 225 squared grid kind as represented in this game, does me fine. |
Not perfect but still fun
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| Review Date: June 21, 2007 |
| Reviewer: Terry, UK |
I agree with some of the other reviewers here that there is room for improvement.
One problem with the game is that you cannot update the dictionary to include new words. One website I visited gave 'fe', 'ja', 'ki', and 'za', as possible two-letter words, but this program won't have it. However, I noticed it it quite happy to use 'ph' which the website did not have. I realise the word list will change in both directions, but it is frustrating to know words are allowable - in online play for example - but not when using this program. The only solution is to wait for the 2007 edition. The pre order listing here on Amazon states that the dictionary can be updated in the new version.
I would also say that the navigation through the menus is not very intuitive and I often end up playing the better cpu opponents because it forgets my preference to play against the idiots!
A couple of reviewers have said that they would like to be able to rearrange their tiles on the rack. You cannot do it there but there is an area at the bottom of the actual board which is intended for that purpose, though it took me a while to realise it.
Personally, I'd take a punt on the 2007 edition, which will be available in October 2007, if your looking to buy a scrabble game or at least wait until that one is reviewed here on Amazon. |
Scrabble, with a few nobs on
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| Review Date: November 16, 2006 |
| Reviewer: S. Charman, Yorkshire |
| I found this game to hit the mark spot on. It plays Scrabble. You get a choice of computer opponents (some of whom are very challenging) to play against. You can also play duplicate Scrabble. There are even a few extra word games and options for online play thrown in, too. It's all very elegantly put together. For under a tenner you can't really go wrong. |
Its almost, but not quite, brilliant
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| Review Date: January 17, 2007 |
| Reviewer: P. Holmes, UK |
I've certainly learned a lot from playing this version of scrabble - I'm beginning to see how to play better every time I play.
The only reason the game gets 3 stars overall from me is due to following reasons:
*) The game graphics do not work on a wide-screen resolution correctly - parts of the top or bottom go missing
*) The game requires the CD-ROM in order to be played - annoying if you have a laptop and don't really want to have the CD-ROM with you all the time in addition to everything else you carry
*) You can't rearrange the tiles you are given (or at least I can't see how to do it!)
Other than that the game is great - the computer players are a tad too clever for me (I've yet to even get half the score of the computer players), but I always like playing against people better than myself - I find I learn how to play better myself as a result! |
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