Word Tower – Novel Word Building Game for Android
by Paul Wilks
Jan 4, 2012 8:19 AM –
Install
Word Tower is compelling and novel word game for Android. Complete the tower by building words around the chosen letter. Start with a 3 letter square, then the 4, then finally the often tougher 5 or 6 letter words. It’s a very well thought out and designed game and an absolute must for word-game fans.
Price: Free or $0.99 from either AndroidTapp Store or Android Market.
Tested on: HTC Desire HD
Content Rating: Everyone
Pros & Cons:
Pros
- Challenging gameplay!
- Cute design!
- Accumulative statistics!
- Simple to play!
- Variety of options and settings!
Cons
- Occasionally doesn’t allow perfectly good words.
- Without checking, I believe there might be certain levels, with particular settings which are impossible to complete.
- It might be improved if you could select the primary letter.
Features:
Word Tower is a beautifully simple yet brilliantly executed word game for Android. The concept is so simple you can play it with a pencil and paper if you wanted to. You are presented with squares of 3×3, 4×4, 5×5 or 6×6. You can choose whether you have 3′s, 4′s and 5′s or 4′s, 5′s and 6′s grid sizes. One letter is placed in each row and the aim of the game is to find a word which fits around that letter.
The design of the game is very cool, a kind of paper and pen theme that reminds you of playing crosswords, hangman or other word puzzles. It’s effective too, evoking the simplicity of the game with a relatively contemporary theme. It also works well with the fact that the game is so wonderfully simple to play.
You have lots and lots of gameplay options to choose from. So, even if the concept begins to become overly familiar, the game can give added dimensions. So, you can solve up to 26 towers in one game, or choose between 1, 3, 5 or 10 towers in total. There are also different levels; these allow or disallow certain words- for example, level 3 only permits nouns and your are not allowed duplicates.
I did find that the game doesn’t allow plurals, and often doesn’t allow perfectly good words even when there is supposedly no restrictions. I can’t fathom why such restrictions are placed on creating words. Sure it makes it harder, but also virtually impossible. For example, can you think of a 4 letter word, which has to be a noun, and has to have F as the second letter? I couldn’t. This applies to far more letters too. Therefore an extended game which features a number of different letters might prove to be literally impossible to complete.
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Word Tower – Top word set
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Word Tower – Bottom word set
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Word Tower – Nearly complete
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Word Tower – Statistics
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Word Tower – Results
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Word Tower – No such word apparently
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Word Tower – New game settings
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Word Tower – Main menu
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Word Tower – How to play
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Word Tower – Settings
Fun Factor:
The game is loads of fun on the lower levels where towers are completable. Higher levels and on tougher letters, the game becomes relatively impossible and therefore frustrating. 
Addictive:
I found myself taking on the game again and again, although on the lower levels. The game is hugely addictive under these settings and lots of fun.
Graphics:
The graphics are very basic, but there are some nice effects. For example, if you have more than one tower, you can sweep sideways to the other towers in play, this is a responsive and fluid movement which feels good.
Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:
There is no sound, vibration or need for an accelerometer.