Word Searcher 2 (DSiWare) Review

Full Disclosure: I did not play Word Searcher 1.

Story: There is no plot contained within the game. There are 100 word find puzzles, but nothing ties them together. The game needs no story, as its goal is to bring the puzzles we are accustomed to solving on paper to the DS.

Gameplay: A game cannot get much simpler than Word Searcher II. The player uses the stylus to drag across words as he or she finds them.  Because the DS screen is not very large, letters clutter the screen turning word selection into a chore.  The puzzles do offer a wide variety of categories all available from the outset. The puzzles’ designs offer a range of difficulties depending on the category, but most require a good amount of searching to complete.

Graphics: The color scheme at first seems unobtrusive and clear; however, the backgrounds soon become boring and eventually eye straining. There should be more color! Every puzzle has the same bland off-white background. The game seeks to mimic the color of paper, but the problem is the brightness of the screen limits the length someone can play the game because it is an eyesore. This is the reason the game cannot compete with the paper versions of word search.

Audio: While there is an option to mute it, the music is obnoxious and repetitious. I turned the sound off within 10 minutes of starting the game because it was a distraction.

Replayability: The sheer number of puzzles will be enough to keep a player occupied for a long while. As expected though, there is no real reason to go back and replay a completed puzzle. There is just no reason to go back and find words that have already been found (this is no fault of the game, just a fact about word search puzzles) even though the game does switch up the locations of the words. Without any online functionality, the time recorded after the completion of each puzzle serves only as self-motivation. Having four separate profiles is a nice touch, so others can complete the puzzles you have already solved.

Pros:

• Variety of categories is large
• A lot of puzzles to complete
• Four separate profiles

Cons:

• Crowded screen
• Music is obnoxious
• The bright screen fails to replicate the comfort on the eyes of paper

Editor: Zach Felling

Go to 12:32 in the Video

4/10 Tolerable

Value: Don’t buy, no matter the price.