RazorianFly

Wordulous is the latest release from 99games Online Private Limited, an anagram game where you have to try and make as many words as possible from the six letters provided before the time runs out. Fans of scrabble and the like are sure to find this little app appealing.

Whilst at first glance the graphics appear kind of child like, they are very smooth and actually fit well in this game, giving the whole thing a school feel, something that the developers were definitely aiming for when designing this game., although the springboard icon of a girl with a flower in her hair seems a strange choice.

Within the game there is a practice mode with no time limit to allow you to get to grips with the game mechanics, but it’s the examination mode that is the core here, three minutes to guess as many words as possible. Don’t feel that’s enough time? Well, guess words of four letters or more and you get a time bonus. Guess a six letter word and get a bonus question for additional points.

There’s also a challenge mode that connects with Facebook and your contacts list. Play this mode and then send challenges to your friends that also have Wordulous. At time of writing this review I was unable to test this function, but using Facebook Connect I’m sure it will work just fine, no Push Notifications at this point but that could be added later and would be a great addition.

In other games of this type they tend to make you guess the six letter word before you can advance to another set of letters, but thankfully this one works differently, you just need to find a set number of words (I assume this is a percentage but it’s difficult to be sure) before you can choose to advance. Once you run out of time, you are given a rating based on your score. I must confess I only scored the verbal ability of a tailor. Upon checking the world rankings I found I had a long way to go before making it into the top 50. A nice feature and something every iPhone game should have as it encourages me to go back and work that little bit harder.

Like all games of this type I wonder sometimes about the words used, but you can select between TWL (the official list of words for Scrabble tournaments in the USA) or SOWPODS (the official list used elsewhere in the world).  You still get the feeling that some of the words aren’t really words, but this is most likely down to my vocabulary rather than an issue with the games dictionary.

Overall, a nicely put together, addictive little game. A must have for fans of word puzzles, and at the current sale price, a steal.

Current Status: Worth a Look
Reviewed at: v1.1
Reviewed on Firmware: 3.0
Download size: 9.6MB
Released on: 16th June 2009
Retails for: £0.59 / $0.99 (on sale at time of review)
Compatible with: iPod touch Gen 1 & 2 / iPhone Classic / iPhone 3G / iPhone 3GS