Inside Social Games

Those damn, dirty koalas… you know you can’t trust those beady little black eyes, and that overly cute, fuzzy exterior. They are just… too cute, and you simply cannot trust anything that cute. But no, the furry devils rose against the might of mankind, destroying all dictionaries in the process. Now, what remains of spoken word is held prisoner within the massive Word Machine. Well, at least that is the story the developers of this app give…

Word Machine is a simple, word-based puzzle game which, for all intents and purposes, is a digital version of those word find activities you used to do in the back of magazines and activity books as a kid. Of course, this one is slightly more difficult, but the concept is more or less the same.

When you start the game, you are presented with a random selection of words to find within a large “machine” operated by those dastardly koalas. The primary objective is to find the selection of words generated at the bottom before time expires, but you are also welcome to boost your score or time by finding other meaningful words. Once all the main words have been found, you enter a bonus mode of sorts where the machine starts scrolling off to the side, and you try to find as many words as you can before the letters leave the screen or time runs out.

The game is certainly a thought provoking game, which is not surprising considering that it was developed by a company called Brainoid. At first, the game seems a little overwhelming, but it’s actually quite simple once you develop some semblance of a strategy. Furthermore, it is a nice change from your typical word game in which you type out words from a selection of scrambled letters.

Unfortunately, the social aspect does not take as refreshing a course, as it consists of your typical leader board scoring and friend challenges that most other Facebook titles have. The social feature play second fiddle to the overall game play.

Regardless, if you are a fan of word type games, then Word Machine is worth a try. While interesting and a breath of fresh air from your typical word/puzzle game, the game is actually made quite well. Now, if they could just do something about those koalas… with those eyes… always… starring….