 |
Available In: App Store |  |
Price: $3.99 |
I was late to the Facebook game, and although I do enjoy a good status update every now and then, I am definitely not a FB addict. One of the things I constantly hear from other friends who are self described addicts is how much time they spend playing games online. We’re not talking huge video games like Quake or Call of Duty, but rather simple ones like Boggle or Poker. One of the most popular games was Scrabulous, a Scrabble knockoff that got some interesting press a few months ago when Hasbro decided that they wanted to make some money on their game title. Well, the popular word game (now named Lexulous) has arrived to the iPhone in the form of a native app.
In order to begin, you’ll need a Facebook account, so you can play with your friends or anyone for that matter. Lexulous allows you to choose from your Facebook friends directly from the application and you can start a word game with the simple click of their name. You can also view their stats to see if they are a major player or not. If you’re like me and are not sure which of your friends (if any) play Lexulous, you can join a public game or host a game on your own. Future updates include an option to play against the computer.
The design and layout of Lexulous are excellent. Although not as pretty as the Scrabble app (from the screenshots that I’ve seen of Scrabble), Lexulous was very close and has a clean look in its own right. The gameplay is still similar to Scrabble, though you have eight tiles instead of seven. It was very easy to start a game with friends, and although I tried several public games, I found the players available for games often had very high ratings, were looking to chat with specific people (often women), or would end up not playing on a consistent basis. Honestly, I’m looking forward to the update which includes playing against the computer as I just could not get a full game in on the iPhone when playing against random people.
If playing with friends that you know and reliable ones at that, then Lexulous is well designed and can offer a solid (and slightly cheaper) alternative to the iPhone version of Scrabble. The integration with Facebook is a big positive factor for Lexulous. If you have a well established friend base and play Lexulous on FB regularly, then the iPhone version will offer you an opportunity to continue playing wherever you are. Since I ended up joining several games, I’d love to see a better system of being notified when it’s my turn (can you say “push”?), and maybe it was me, but I could not figure out how to quit a game, so I just have 4 random games going, and none of them most likely will ever be finished. Technical observations included a slow initial load and one crash, but Lexulous seems stable and responsive otherwise. I did notice (and other app reviews seem to agree) that in this version, Lexulous has a small problem connecting initially in 3G/EDGE, but once you click past a popup, the app runs fine. I’d feel comfortable recommending it at $3.99 for only those who play on Facebook regularly. For those who don’t, I’d wait for the update or possible check out the Scrabble app (albeit for an additional $1).
Loading...
Loading ...