Wuggle

Word games are a popular sort. Huge on the mobile platforms and tellybox boxes, there have been a massive range of them, all excellent fodder for those wanting something challenging yet accessible. Though there has always been something missing from them - that little something which makes games brilliantly addictive. Wuggle is set to change this, offering up a solid word game, which is soaked in style and massively addictive, in a way few word games have managed before.

Taking inspiration from the ultimate word game (Scrabble, blatantly) Wuggle has you chucking around a bunch of tiles, in a manner far from the traditional end game Scrabble hissy fit. The aim is, unsurprisingly, to try and make the longest words possible (and so score the most points). A very simple concept but one which has been spiced up with traditional mechanisms like a time limit, or alternatively a limited number of tiles to. So far so standard, no?

Well... no. The beauty of Wuggle is in the control scheme (easily said on any iPhone title) - tiles are literally thrown around the screen, using phones touch sensing magician (or however it works) brilliantly. Most simply, words are formed by lining up tiles and bashing them together, easy peasy. The brilliant part comes when you get used to everything and start to use two hands. This serves to make things twice as fast and twice as hectic, but potentially massively point-lucrative. Not only this, but scoring a long word, after chucking the tiles about the screen to organize them, whilst getting ready to score yet another word, is incredibly satisfying. Pulling of this tile based lunacy effectively is difficult, but brilliant fun when you do.

Throw in the bonuses for longer words, a multiplier for anything over four letters long (making chaining a must for a high score), and you have yourself a tidy wee package which is great fun to play and perfect in short bursts (although the games are paused and saved if you need to get off the bus).

Sadly everything isn'nt all sunshine and buttercups, Wuggle does have a few flaws..

Forming words can be difficult to grasp at first, and when you start to get in the habit of throwing around the tiles, all too often do you hit an errant tile by accident and score a word which, not only are you sure doesn't exist, it's used two crucial letter and broken your multiplier chain (bye bye high score!). While you could argue a skillful player might not do this, it's hard to shake the feeling that such accidents shouldn't be happening and it gets incredibly frustrating.

This infuriating niggle aside, there is a great and addictive game here. One which everyone can grasp easily and will keep coming back to; Wuggle is not only enjoyable for the words, but also for the way in which you score them.