Review: Word Ace

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By Mononoko | Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:48 am EDT |

This app review brought to you by forum member Mononoko. Check out our Forum Review details here!

With six new apps that recently hit the App Catalog, Word Ace joined the ranks of webOS games. It can be clearly seen that this app by Self Aware Games is definitely the best official game out there. It is a great concept, looks sleek, and has great features and tracking. It is a sure pick up for any Pre owner, gamer or not.

Ed Note: You might even find yourself facing ACG4444, the Self Aware Games-declared Word Ace Champion (and PreCentral member) as of this writing! If you want to play Mononoko, hit up code 1835. Feel free to post your own friend codes in this thread.

The idea behind Word Ace is relatively simple. Being a cross between Texas Hold Em' and Scrabble, two very well known games, it won't be hard to pick up. The game starts by dealing you two 'cards' and giving you 400 chips. Each card contains a letter, and a number. The number represents how many points it will score you. The less common the letter (like in Scrabble), the more points it is worth.

A wave of betting is then sent around, and three community cards are played to the table. These cards are just like the those you were dealt, and may be used by anyone at the table to make words (as Texas Hold Em’ players will use them to build a winning hand). More letter cards come out and more betting opportunities come. Eventually the dealing ends with five letters in the middle, and two in your hand, making a total of seven. You must now try to create the best word you can, scoring as many points as possible. Word Ace is played entirely online, so you are facing real opponents with real knowledge that can make real mistakes (and really good words). The player with the highest-scoring word is then deemed as the winner and receives all the chips in the pot. Chips are accumulated, just as in poker, until one player has them all.

Word Ace harbors a nice point tracking system with achievements and lifetime stats. It is easy to use, looks sleek, and seems like it will take a while to get all those achievements. The music is high quality, though it can be turned off in the settings page. As of now, that is the only setting in this page. Also, the game can be played offline as well as online; offline being played against the computer, in this case your Pre. In online play, you can add players to your friend list and start private games with them. It is a nice little feature to have.

Overview of Features

Online play
Integrated game lobby and chat room (chat while you play)
Achievements that will have you coming back
Nice progress tracking
Beautifully sleek look
Customizable Icons (default, positive, and negative). Just swipe the default during play for pos/neg change

Overall, this is a great game, and I cannot wait to see what's in store in the updates. Download it, trust me, you'll like it.

Word Ace is currently available for free in the webOS App Catalog. Self Aware Games has stated that they intend for Word Ace to continue to be free for the foreseeable future.