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Review: Word Whirl

By: , 7/5/2010 2:00 pm | 10 comments

The Palm App Catalog is filled with lots of puzzle games and time-wasters. One that has been around for quite a while and with deep homebrew roots is Word Whirl by SacherSoft.  Usually $1.99, it’s a steal at $0.99 during Palm’s 50% off sale.  A free “lite” version is available, with 10 levels. As a pretty fun word game, I get a lot of enjoyment out of playing it.  My 5 year old son does too. (However, he doesn’t beat my score, like in Bubbles! plus).

The game is very straightforward: much like the famous game “Text Twist,” you are given six letter tiles, and you have to make as many three to six letter words as possible from them. Each level is set up with spaces for a varying number of words, depending on the level. The more letters in your word, the higher your score. While perhaps not as aesthetically pleasing as Text Twist, you will likely find Word Whirl an equally thrilling and addicting gaming experience.

In order to pass the level, you must reach a minimum score — this usually means making at least one of the six letter words. The game continues on until you cannot pass a level. My only slight complaint is that there is no way to tell how many points you have left to be able to pass the level. According to the developer, there are more than 2300 levels and 10000 word combinations possible. You are not going to see the same letter combinations over and over. Be careful, or you just may find yourself playing hours after you’ve started.

So, you may be wondering where the “whirl” part of the game comes in. To make the game a little easier, you can whirl the letters around, so that they are in a new, random order. This may help you to find a word that you could not previously come up with.

A couple of the nice touches in the game include the ability to use the keyboard or the touchscreen to make words, and auto saving of games. With both a Timed Game and Puzzle Game (not timed), there is a quite a bit of replay value to this game which should keep you playing for a while. The ability to activate a more comprehensive dictionary also makes this game more challenging, yet fun, for word aficionados. (Side effects from extended playing include: red marks on your forehead due to easy words you may have missed and lots of Homer Simpson-like Doh!’s.)

Improvements that I’d like to see? Sound effects and the ability to change the color scheme would really put this up with the best.

[Click here to download Word Whirl directly to your webOS device]

Pros:

  • Tons of replayabilty
  • If you only feel like playing for a few minutes, the auto-save feature is a great feature

Cons:

  • The UI is relatively basic, with no way to change color scheme
  • Not an easy way to tell how many points you need in order to advance to the next level [Ed. note:  I believe you always need to find at least one of the six letter words to advance.]
Bottom Line
Even though the graphics are not super flashy, if you are interested in a fun word puzzle game that will give you hours of entertainment, this is a must buy. We also recommend you check out Wobble Words, a webOSroundup Top Pick.

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  • ScottMGS

    One issue I had with the free version of this game is that it rejects some relatively common English words. Very frustrating.

  • http://www.webosroundup.com/ DanR
  • Pgovotsos

    There is a major error in the review. You do NOT have to achieve a particular score to end a level. What you MUST do is solve one six letter word. After you do, you can end the level at any time by selecting End Level and advance to the next level. You won't get the highest score possible, but you will be able to advance and the game continues. If you select End Level before you solve one six letter word, the game ends whatever your score.

    Using the full word list is practically an act of a masochist. Even with the common word list, there are quite a few very NOT common words included and many common words are omitted. The full word list will ensure that you will just start guessing every permutation of letters in the hopes that you will stumble over all the words.

    Regardless, Word Whirl is a very fun and addicting puzzle. I don't know about 2300+ levels, but I've at least made it to level 673 so I assume there really are that many.

  • http://twitter.com/sacherjj Joe Sacher

    As the author, a few corrections. The normal price is $2.99, but I dropped to $1.98 for the 50% off sale, so everyone can get it for $0.99. I will go back up to $2.99 after Palm's sale.

    As for getting to the next level, as explained in the how to play, you just need to get one of the words using all six letters to advance. Score is not a factor.

    I'm currently working on a crowd sourcing method of improving the dictionary and multi player ideas. Thanks for the review.

    • Robert

      I am very addicted to this game. My eight year old loves playing with me as well.

      The only thing I can’t figure out is why the non-timed game mode (puzzle mode) sometimes does not seem to record my score as a high score. I am trying to figure out the pattern.

      Could you please explain the high score posting logic?

      Thanx!

      • http://sachersoft.com Joe Sacher

        When a game is ended, i.e. you cannot make more words and the game is over, the high score posts. It would not show a currently active but saved game in high score.

        The High Scores are tacked by game type (Timed/Puzzle) and by level or score.

        They are sorted descending by level or score, with score used to sort any ties in level and level used to sort any ties in score.

        If you are seeing behavior other than this in the app, please use the Help menu to send a support email. Also make sure you are running the latest from the App Catalog.

        The DB load was heavily optimized due to the space issue that the Pre and Pixi initially had before the Apps were moved to the USB portion of the device. I am currently reworking the load that will allow easier word addition and deletion to further tune the DB. I have two apps to release before finishing these updates, but it will hopefully be soon.

        Thanks for playing. If you have any questions, feel free to fire off and email to joe [at] sachersoft.com.

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