Word Science is a word puzzle action game for iOS and other devices (reviewed on iPad here). Four rows of letter tiles scroll left and right and right to left on the bottom of the screen. You must quickly tap the letters to make words and then hit the arrow button at the bottom to submit them to earn points. You’ll get bonus points if you can spell bigger words and create them quickly. If you tap the wrong letter, simply drag it back down into the rows of scrolling tiles. After a short time limit, the game is over and your final score is tallied.

I’m surprised Hasbro hasn’t sued since the letter tiles look awfully like Scrabble pieces. There is even a little point value on each letter tile here. Special colored tiles can give you more points, and some of them even have two letters on the same tile, like “Qu” and “Th.” There are even blank tiles that can be used as wild cards. If you can spell the word they give you at the top of the screen, you’ll get bonuses as well.

After each round, you can spend your points to buy power boosts you can use in the next game, such as blank tiles and special colored pieces. I’m not sure how you utilize them in the game, but I think it causes them to appear more frequently in the rows. Unfortunately, because of the short time limit and the difficulty of finding letters as they scroll by, this isn’t the best word puzzle game I’ve played. But if you enjoy word games like Bookworm and need more of a challenge, you may want to give Word Science a try.

Kid Factor:

Naturally, letter recognition and good reading and spelling abilities are a must to enjoy this game. But Word Science could be considered educational for kids since it reinforces those skills. Some might get frustrated at the short time limits and challenge, though.

Tags: Game Reviews