Previews

Hands-on with EA's asynchronous vocab game WordSmack

I need a 5-letter word for 'ownage'

Hands-on with EA's asynchronous vocab game WordSmack
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iOS
| Word Smack

Yesterday at EA Mobile's Naughty or Nice pre-holiday event in New York City, the company gave me a tantalising glimpse at its upcoming asynchronous multiplayer word game WordSmack.

In this game - a new IP from EA - you are challenged to guess five-letter words, with only the first and last letter given.

That's not all, though. As EA Mobile's rep was at pains to tell me, WordSmack combines a simple word game with a logic puzzle to form an intriguing mobile experience.

Allow me to explain...

Moral of the story

If you were tasked with guessing a word from the clue 'M _ _ _ L', you could plump for 'Medal' or 'Moral'. Only one of these two options is correct, though.

After taking a stab at one of them and guessing incorrectly, you try again, you see. It becomes, essentially, a process of elimination. The more attempts you make, mind, the lower your points reward.

And in later rounds, you are only given the first letter - the difficulty level is ramped up, accordingly, as you might expect.

Letter punched

While WordSmack is an original IP, it feels familiar and the gameplay is easy to pick up and highly intuitive.

For those wondering, by the way, this is a free-to-play title. There are optional paid-for power-ups available, though, like glue and a hammer. These power-ups provide hints on what letters are used in the five-letter goal word.

Although there is no UK or US release date attached to WordSmack as yet, it is currently available on the Canadian App Store (a testbed for many freemium iOS titles).

WordSmack should, therefore, hit the UK and US App Stores in the not-too-distant future.
Matthew Diener
Matthew Diener
Representing the former colonies, Matt keeps the Pocket Gamer news feed updated when sleepy Europeans are sleeping. As a frustrated journalist, diehard gamer and recovering MMO addict, this is pretty much his dream job.