Normally I’m not too keen on free-to-play games on mobile devices, as they have too many annoyances that bug me. But every once in a while a free-to-play game comes along that I really enjoy anyway. Alphabear is one of those games. It’s a clever word spelling game downloadable on mobile devices, but reviewed on iPad here.

In the game you start with a little square bear with letters around it. You must tap on the letters to spell words to make the blocks disappear. When they do, the bear will either multiply or get bigger, depending on what blocks you used. You want to try to make as many big bears as possible to boost your score at the end. But be careful. If you wait too long to use a letter, it’ll turn red and if you don’t use it then, it’ll turn into a rock and can’t be removed, which will hinder the growth of your bears. When you can’t spell any more words, the game is over, and then your score is tallied and if you get high enough, you win the stage!

There are different kinds of bears you can use, each one having a different costume and attribute to help your score. Some bears let you score extra for certain letters, for instance, while others have you on a time limit. As a free-to-play game, once you use a bear, you’ll have to wait a while for it to take a nap so you can use it again. But I never had any problems running out of bears, and it’s not one of those games you’ll play for long periods anyway. Plus you usually unlock a new bear when you complete a level anyway. You can always use in-game purchases to buy more bears and other goodies to help you out, but the game doesn’t force you to.

At the end of each level, the bears will make a “Mad Lib” sentence using the some of the words you spelled, and you can post them to Facebook! So the game has a sense of humor and I like the art style, too. So if you love word games like Scrabble, you may want to check out Alphabear. It’s free, so you have nothing to lose!

Kid Factor:

Reading and spelling skills are needed to play of course, but the game could be considered educational as it teaches and reinforces said skills. I guess you could end up making a naughty sentence with the “Mad Lib” function, but it’s all random. Parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases.

Tags: Game Reviews