Scrabble Reviews

Scrabble is a board game that has been turned digital time and time again. Ubisoft decided to take a crack at it on the Xbox One and it is a complete mess. The game does not work in the slightest if you turn it on while connected to Xbox Live, whether you are playing digitally or playing using the disc version. It attempts to connect to the Ubisoft servers and just crashes. It is literally unplayable without using a workaround that requires you to go offline every time you launch the game.

Gameplay:
Forgetting the awful crashing, the dictionary used in this version is also abhorrent. In my time so far collecting all of the achievements in this game, I've lost multiple games simply over them just not counting my words. The best example is the word aridly. It's not that ridiculous of a word, yet it is not included in the dictionary. The game's online is also entirely dead, presumably because no one knows how to launch their terrible game (and, of course, it's semi-old). The gameplay is unintuitive; placing the letters feels entirely clunky.

Achievements:
This game's definitely an achievement hunter game. The achievements are pretty simple if you are good at Scrabble. You just have to beat some AI at various difficulties, use an emoji online (currently annoying to play online because of the offline only launch), do some miscellaneous stuff, and win 5 quickplay games. Good luck finding an online match without a partner to boost emojis. Pretty basic, and of course, if you have to, a Scrabble Solver is always available. Some words won't work though...

Ah yes, Scrabble. A game, like Monopoly, that has proudly ruined countless friendships across the world for decades. Can Ubisoft take a concept that feels like it's been rereleased more times than Tetris feel new and original?

Well, for starters, the game works and plays as of this review. Connected to LIVE or not. So that's a good start. Small applause for that.

The landing menu is limited, but is accompanied by a classy, Macy's elevator piano jingle. You're given the option to either play against an AI, a friend in the room, a friend not in the room, or three of any combination of those. It plays out like a traditional game of Scrabble does -- not much else to say from there. Pick letters, the game does a decent job trying to predict where you want to place them, spell words, try to score more points than your pal(s).

The problem with the game isn't that it glitches out pretty frequently, could be played on a Wii, feels like its development was rushed, or that it desperately wants you to install other applications to enjoy it fully (Ubisoft Connect / Hasbro Game Channel) -- the biggest problem is that Scrabble, in general, has been ruined since online play. And maybe that's why not a lot of thought went into producing this game.

As much as we'd all like to believe that the internet is exclusively filled with Peacemaking Patricias and Honest Henrys, it isn't, and there are hundreds of word unscramblers all over the web. So unless you're planning on playing with others on the same couch, it's easy to abuse the freedom of privacy.

As a host of a game, you can attempt to tighten the leashes of players if you'd like -- limiting their time during their turn to cheat think out and strategically play a word. But it also penalizes players who are playing fairly.

So, in short, it acts like a Scrabble game, it smells like a Scrabble game, it quacks like a Scrabble game. It's a Scrabble game. Play it indoors and enjoy not needing to fret about losing letter tiles. But don't get your hopes up: There's no crazy CGI action cutscenes or a compelling storyline to get you boosted. It's Scrabble.