- You don’t get any points for spelling Lexic, but it makes a cool title pic
[Note: this game is now titled Abca.]
I’m not a huge word game fiend. I am quickly bored by Boggle and Scrabble, but something about Lexic is absolutely fascinating. Part of it is because the game has interesting gameplay twists like unlockable feats and the accelerometer-aided Blackout mode. However, the bulk of what makes Lexic so fantastic is the execution. The Kieffer Bros. have scrabbled at the well-worn tile-based gameplay and have come up with their own extremely polished take on the genre. Lexic isn’t anything drastically different, but it is a mind-bogglingly good iPhone game.
The Basics
If you’ve ever played any tile-based boardgame where you spell words, you’ll already know most of what you need to know about Lexic. You trace the letter tiles horizontally, vertically, and diagonally to create words and score points based on which letters are used, as well as how many were used. The controls are very well done, and I didn’t have any trouble tracing words despite my fingers zig-zagging across the screen.
Game modes
There are four modes of play in Lexic, and while each one is fun and interesting on its own, Blackout is probably the most iPhone-y of the bunch:
* Static: the tiles always stay the same. You can choose to have a time limit or endless play.
* Cascade: new tiles fall into place as you create words. You can choose a time limit or endless play.
* Blackout: tiles are destroyed upon completing a word, but they don’t come back. You can use the accelerometer to slide tiles left and right, and two-letter words are allowed.
* Quest: I started the game off with this mode because it seemed like the most dynamic and rewarding of the bunch. It’s like cascade, but the objective is to use a set number of special golden tiles (score multipliers) to reach the next level. The formula is also shaken up by the inclusion of virus tiles, tiles that are screwed into place, and more.
The Tweetie 2 of word games
If you use Twitter on the iPhone, then you might have heard of a little app by Loren Brichter called Tweetie 2. People (myself included) are just floored by its user interface and just how good the app “feels”. Lexic is much the same. Something about the animation, graphics, and sound effects preserves (or recreates) the tactile feel of actual tiles. It’s a lot of fun highlighting words, using golden tiles, and watching all of the new tiles — ripe with new word possibilities — tak tak tak into place. The tiles are’t the only things that just click, though: the game auto-saves upon exit, lets you choose from TWL and SOWPODS word lists, and includes a beautiful tutorial on the main menu (the ‘i’ on the top-left).
Heck, even pausing the game is fun. The pause button disappears, ‘resume’ and ‘end game’ buttons glide onto the screen, and a convenient “words found” list appears at the bottom of the screen. The game doesn’t even feature any kind of haptic feedback, but Lexic makes it very easy to forget you’re interacting with a touch screen because of the tight controls and interface.
Reasons to keep playing
One of the most amusing parts of the game was trying to find all of the nastiest words I could think of and seeing if they would score me points (they did), and it was actually one of the longer and more horrible words that yielded me my first achievement. I had no idea there were achievements in this game!
If ur gd enuff speller or you achieve a high enough score in a timed mode, you can actually unlock extra themes and abilities. Themes are self-explanatory and activated in the options menu, but the abilities are actually pretty well hidden. You only know about them if you read the game’s tutorial or actually unlock one, and they’ll let you do things like triple tap a letter and then blow it – and everything around it – to lettereens, although you’ll lose 300 points each time you do so. I actually played a quick game of Lexic Bomberman after first unlocking this ability, and I proudly boast my negative score below. However, I’ve played most of my games sans abilities because real men only need their sharp wits, index fingers, and rudimentary tracing skills to conquer word games…and because I kept forgetting the abilities existed.
Conclusion
I loved every spelling second with Lexic, and that’s really because the Kieffer Bros. have treated it as a labour of love. Lexic is a beautifully polished and balanced gameplay experience, and I think it’s much more than just a fantastic casual game, but a triumphant example of what premium iPhone apps can be (“Word!”).
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Look up Lexic on the App Store. It’s just $1.99.
Kieffer Bros. provided a promo code to Just Another iPhone Blog for the review of Lexic. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page.
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TAGS: scrabble, word game
