Review: SpellTower

SpellTower (iOS)
Developer: Zach Gage
Publisher: Zach Gage
Release Date: November 17, 2011 (iPad); December 7, 2011 (iPhone - Updated to Universal app)

Word games aren’t exactly something I find myself frequently playing. As an infrequent observer looking in, the gold standard of word games seems to be Scrabble and there is little about that game that I enjoy. It mainly comes from playing with other people—the dynamics of trying to build off another’s placements is unappealing to me. SpellTower, an iOS word game by Zach Gage, isn’t another version of that thankfully. Rudimentarily speaking, SpellTower is like Boggle with direct feedback (but without the “Qu” combination), with the play grid expanded to be similar in size to a very small word search, and with the block relationships out of something like a block puzzle game (but without the chains).

Right away, it may be clear that it is the dynamics emerging from these different points of reference that makes SpellTower so appealing. The basic act of finding these words within the grid requires more thought than the linear horizontal/vertical/diagonal methodology of a word search. This is where it is more directly like Boggle: Drawing a line through the letters can zig and zag (both good words to use with “Z”) through any adjacent letters. Critically, SpellTower achieves a delicate balance between using thoughtful technique and game grid size: Never do the possibilities feel so immense that one’s actions must relegate to just scanning the puzzle letter by letter (which can occur in word searches).

Playing SpellTower is a balance between finding words with that method and block management. Once a word is spelt, it is cleared from the grid and the space it occupied is filled by the blocks above it. One wants to find the biggest words to earn the most points, but it may upset the balance and end up creating a lone column of letters where the possibilities are limited due to its lack of adjacent letters. In maintaining blocks, one must also factor more than just what the word clears. The more difficult letters to spell with, like “Z”, “X”, or “Q”, are marked by being blue and will clear entire rows. Solid black filler blocks will only be cleared if they have a connecting side to the word being cleared. Spelling a word with five or more characters will also clear any block with a connecting side. Eventually, letters will show up with numbers indicating a minimum character count for that letter. SpellTower is not only about finding and spelling words, but how to do so with longevity. Taking everything into account is encouraged and possible. It is thoughtful play that is mostly without time limits (bar one mode that has one).

There are quite a few elements that go into SpellTower but they always feel managed. The one unmanageable trait of chance is seemingly unavoidable in games with effectively (if not literally) random pieces, but it never becomes much of a bother. It is a testament to SpellTower’s exceedingly interesting dynamics that emerge from well-selected points of reference in both analog and digital games. Games are frequently a balance of their elements, and here the balance is fine.

Score: 87%