WordUp! review

We review the Android game WordUp! - a fun word puzzle with a welcome layer of gameplay customisation

Published on Feb 2, 2010

These days it's tough to find a unique word game in the Android Market. Pretty much every feature that you can think of exists in one form or another. So what can set an app apart from the thousands of clones out there? Simple -- the customisations that can be made by the user while playing the word game.

Anthrological took notice of the lack of customisation in other word games, and then provided users with a bunch of settings to make WordUp! their own.

For starters, you can toggle the sound effects. This doesn't seem like a big deal, but it's pretty annoying to have to keep adjusting the media volume for the games when you don't like the sound effects.

You also get to see your score as you find words, a common feature among word games. However, you can also adjust the time allowed on the word board so you can rack up as many points as possible.

This game even lets you select the type of dictionary used for determining, "Is that really a word?" moments. You can choose whether you want the game to be full screen or allow you to see the notification bar, as well.

For the purpose of this review, we used full screen, but don't be fooled, we prefer being able to see our notifications so we can see who is texting or emailing us.

Settings

The letter board itself can be made much more difficult than the standard size. We tried playing in 5x5 mode and it made us look, well, not so smart. We then reverted back to 4x4 quickly for this review! You can also choose the word length accepted, with three letters being the lowest and five the highest.

When your time runs out, you can input your name to keep track of your highest scores. And for that extra boost in self-esteem, you can even see all the words you missed on the board.

While WordUp! will definitely result in plenty of face-palming moments, it's far and away one of our favourite Android word games to date.

Scoreboard & Missed Words