In search of hidden words

Word Academy is a game for Android and iOS that will test your vocabulary and mental agility: look at the board of letters, form words with them and collect points to level up.

Words, words, words …

With only one game mode, Word Academy will have you hooked for long periods of time. The game presents you with a board with different letters from which you must form a word or words. The number of letters in each word is indicated below the grid, on a board in the style of “Wheel of fortune”. When you have more than one word to form, you must find the words in the correct order to progress.

These words are chosen by the computer and are not just any random words you can make out of the combination of letters. Herein lies the challenge.

Other word games have various types of boosts and power ups, but in Word Academy there are only two: Undo and Hint. Undo allows you to reset the board, which is important in levels where you have to find more than one word.

Hint reveals one letter from the word each time you click on it, something that will be of great help as you move further through the game.

Take your time forming words

In Word Academy, you can form words in horizontal, vertical or diagonal lines. At first you will not have many combinations (the first boards only have four letters), but the difficulty increases considerably as you level up, with more (and longer) words to form.

When you have scored a certain amount of points by forming words, you will move up to the next level of difficulty, which gives you more credits to spend on using Undo and Hint. The only other ways to achieve these power ups are by paying or by sharing the link on social media.

Even if you run out of these boosts, you can still progress, as Word Academy does not reward speed. The game doesn’t penalize you if you spend ages finding the correct words. Nor do you have to worry about running out of lives.

Apart from the fact that there are in-app payments, Word Academy is unusual by the standards of today’s current crop of mobile games. You have unlimited lives and no social options, such as comparing results with friends on Facebook or Game Center. This is nice at first, but you are missing that competitive aspect, because you can’t annoy your Facebook friends by telling them you’re better than them. There is also no multiplayer mode.

Word Academy is a simple but pleasant game. Maybe it doesn’t have the colorful worlds of Candy Crush, as its graphics are pretty minimalist, but who needs bears and candy to make words? This makes it perfect for underpowered, older phones too.

Limited but very promising

Word Academy’s strength lies in its simplicity and its endless gameplay. We would only like to see some social network integration and a way to challenge friends.