There’s this really awesome educational game I came across recently while surfing popular games on Google Play. It’s called New Words With Friends. Having given the Android version of this game a thorough test, I’ll share my review. Published by the famous game studio, Zynga, New Words With Friends is an excellent and engaging educational game to play with both friends and new folks. Essentially, it’s like playing Scrabble on a phone and it works cross-platform as an Android app, iOS app and even a Facebook app. Without further ado I’ll discuss the high points.
First, the game has really cool graphics. The game has a cool trendy look easy on the eyes and sure to please. It’s got a Facebook-like theme and a good combination of warm and cool colours. There really isn’t much to fault in terms of its looks. The game icon even has a winter feel to it.
Second, New Words With Friends is very social. It’s possible to invite Facebook friends to play. You can even nudge those unresponsive friends to get them in faster. You get ranked alongside friends you’ve played with by total and average scores, ramping up that competitive spirit as you strive towards first place! New Words With Friends also has a Community Match feature that allows you to find avid players nearby just waiting to play with you or to choose who you will like to play with. There’s even a Smart Match feature that immediately finds a game for you to play. The game also has a handy chat tool to help you converse with your buddies or new found friends as you play.
Next is Statistics. Being a lover of all things mathematical and scientific I naturally enjoy a healthy dose of Statistics. New Words With Friends keeps track of your game statistics daily showing valuable metrics of how your verbal aptitude appreciates over time. Some statistics tracked include highest scoring words, longest words used, highest score in any game, average game score, score of words over time, etc.
Fourth is the Educational value. While playing this game, you have access to an in-built dictionary apparently based on the famous Dictionary.com. There is also a Word of the Day feature showing you new words each day to beef up your vocabulary.
Alright alright. So it’s obvious I really like this game. That doesn’t mean there aren’t any criticisms. First of all is the adverts. You have to watch an ad for at least a few seconds after every game move. I understand the makers of the game have to make some dough so it’s not so bad though. There’s an option in settings to buy the game.
Second, the dictionary is quite laggy. When searching for words in quick succession the dictionary doesn’t always keep up. For example you may open the dictionary feature and search for a word only to discover after a moment the meaning of a previous word show up. I feel the dictionary should be made a little more responsive. The app could cancel pending searches for example when a user submits a new query.
Third, there are some words you can play but can’t find meanings for using the dictionary. I suppose this is because that dictionary does not have the words. Perhaps Zynga could integrate other dictionaries to find meanings of words outside the default one.
By and large, New Words With Friends is a fantastic game with great social tools and educational value. I highly recommend this game to anyone with a decent smart phone looking for a game to pass time.