Microsoft Wordament (Mobile) Reviews

  • CryptCoreCryptCore1,002,429
    18 Jan 2019 18 Jan 2019
    13 0 4
    Every word meant something.

    Microsoft Wordament Review

    Microsoft Wordament is not a new idea, even within Microsoft's own collection of casual games. However, this is definitely one of the best iterations of the game I've played. While the game itself is repetitive, there are a variety of game modes on offer to keep you engaged: Adventure, Daily Challenge, Quick Play, and Multiplayer.

    Adventure
    The meat of the game lies in Adventure mode. There are many maps categorized within Adventure Maps and Extra Maps, but there aren't really any differences between the two. Each map has 80 puzzles to work through. Each puzzle has three objectives to conquer in the form of stars. Only one star is needed to progress to the next puzzle, but the map is broken up into sections that are locked until you earn a certain amount of stars. You can acquire up to 255 stars in each map, but only 156 stars are required to reach the end of the map. Objectives Stars to play through include finding words containing a certain amount of letters, using certain letter tiles, finding themed words, and reaching a threshold of points in each puzzle. A hint button is also available if you ever get stuck and will show you a word that meets the requirement of the star you are working on (the game perceives it as left to right, but you can work on any of the stars at any given time). You can also rotate the board, which will sometimes give you a new perspective and help to find new words.

    Daily Challenge
    This is definitely my favorite mode out of them all. In this mode, you aim to earn gems. Certain tiles on the board contain gems, and you must use all the current gems on the board in order to spawn new gems. Making a word that has 3 or more gems in it will spawn a rainbow gem, which is equivalent to two gems in one tile. The difficulties span from Easy to Expert with Expert proving to be an enjoyable challenge that may require multiple tries. Each board is different every time you play, meaning if you fail a challenge, you will not get the same board again. This mode is my favorite because of the "strategy" involved. You may see a great word to use, but if it doesn't utilize many gems, it may not be the best word to play. Additionally, once you play a word, you cannot play it again, so it also causes you to think about when the best time to play a certain word would be. Since they are daily challenges, you can only access challenges for the days of the month that have happened (ie: on January 18, you have access to 18 challenges and will gain more as the month goes on).

    Quick Play and Multiplayer
    I lumped these two together, since they are essentially the same thing with the only difference being that Multiplayer offers Leaderboards to see how you stack up with others on the same puzzle. The goal here is to try and get as many words and as many points as you can within the time limit. These modes are great for a more casual and carefree experience. You don't have to work on any specific goals. You are just finding words. As far as the multiplayer aspect goes, while it is neat to see how you compare with other players, another game that came out years ago called Scramble with Friends was a more competitive and lucrative multiplayer experience with the same exact concept. That had 1v1 duels, and you were able to see what words your opponent found in the same puzzle.

    Achievements
    The achievements in this game are very straight-forward. Most of them are cumulative achievements that you will be grinding for including collecting 600 stars, clearing 12 maps, ranking up to 80, and completing many daily challenges to earn badges. It is extremely easy, but it will take quite some time, especially if you plan on playing the daily challenges as they naturally occur each month. Most of these achievements will come naturally with only a couple that will take some extra attention to achieve.

    Final Thoughts
    Microsoft Wordament is a great mobile experience, especially for free. It has a pick-up-and-play quality that is ideal for on-the-go players. The daily challenges are very fun and require some extra thinking, so I'd say it's the best mode of the game. The achievements are easy, but the grind is quite an undertaking to tackle all at once. It will become mindless if you decide to play for a good lengths at a time. I enjoyed my time with the game, but the multiplayer left much to be desired, and the game itself was not varied enough for me to continue playing after earning all the achievements.
    3.5
    Showing all 4 comments.
    The SCHWARTZ 00Agreed. Fun to play in short bursts, but the grind to finish 12 maps will wear on you if you try to speed run the completion.
    Posted by The SCHWARTZ 00 on 24 Jan 19 at 23:51
    TheGreatKoalaThat sums it up nicely I think
    Posted by TheGreatKoala on 25 Jan 19 at 10:46
    MCASguruGood and accurate review. It's still fun to pick it up every day to finish the daily challenge, but I don't play anything other than that now.
    Posted by MCASguru on 10 Feb 19 at 15:28
    FaSCoRPI play it almost daily on the metro going to work, and it is ok for that, little chuncks of spare time.
    Posted by FaSCoRP on 13 Apr 19 at 11:17
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