Text Twist 2
Score: 78% ESRB: Not Rated Publisher: RealNetworks Developer: GameHouse Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Puzzle/ Board Games/ Family
Graphics & Sound: When it comes to graphical prowess, GameHouse's Text Twist 2 will not win any awards. Being a casual game, no one would expect this title to be rip-roaring and require the baddest computer on the planet. What is there visually, however, is very functional and does exactly what it is supposed to. The game's visuals are also well laid out on the screen, allowing for a great ease of use when it comes to playing the games and navigating the Menus in general. With large buttons and even larger scrambled letters, those who may not have the best eyesight can still enjoy playing this game. The audio aspects of Text Twist 2 are not bad. The background music is enjoyable and the sound fx associated with button presses and the actual gameplay elements keep one's attention. With that said, turning down the volume or simply hitting mute won't affect the gameplay whatsoever. The sound elements are really not needed and essentially are only there as background noise.
Gameplay: Text Twist 2 is a very basic game with even more basic features. While there are a few different modes of play, the entire premise of the game, as is suggested by its title, is to unscramble the given letters and fit them into the different sized boxes that accompany them. Unfortunately, the few modes of play present in Text Twist 2 aren't quite enough to satisfy. It would have been nice to offer up a bit more in terms of different modes, or possibly even more variations, to fill out the gameplay options a bit. This scrambler consists of five modes of play: Timed, Untimed, Lightning, Crossword, and Word of the Day. Timed and Untimed are the same game, but with one you are under the wire via the countdown. These two games have you using a bank of letters in which you must fill in as many different-length words as possible. Lightning is a fun game where advancing to the next round requires that you solve five puzzles of increasing difficulty, while also being timed with only two minutes. As you get words correct, time is added, however, so your overall time can vary. The Crossword feature once again involves scrambled letters, but this time they need to be placed into fixed numbers of spaces. While the main starter word must involve the use of all scrambled letters on the screen, the subsequent words can be any legal word, as long as they fit in the spaces and use the letters from the adjoining words. The key here is to set yourself up without using the same word more than once. Word of the Day is simply an extension of the Timed puzzle round that can never be replayed and changes each and every day that you open the game. Overall, the gameplay of Text Twist 2 is quite addictive, yet also a bit frustrating for those who may not practice these kinds of puzzles frequently. The ease of use and simplicity of the game makes it quick to pick up and play without confusing instructions. I would have loved to see the option to show hints, sentences with word usage, definitions, or other types of clues, as some of the words involved are out there and must have been found in the far reaches of the dictionary. Still, the overall quality of the game has a fun excitement to it.
Difficulty: As far as difficulty goes, Text Twist 2 sometimes goes from moderate to bordering on ridiculous rather quickly. I suppose that if you have a superb vocabulary, some of the puzzles may be a bit easier, but for those not adept at increasing their brain matter with crazy words may have a bit of trouble, leading to a bit more frustration. Unfortunately, there really isn't a difficulty setting in the game, which would have been nice as it would have likely allowed a better range for players to choose from. These extremes do vary a bit from puzzle-type to puzzle-type, however. The puzzles that have you using the same letter bank to guess multiple words, for example, tend to be a bit easier to pass. Figuring out the game's "bingo word" that uses all of the available letters will grant you an automatic free pass to the next round. The Untimed puzzles also lean a bit more toward the easy to moderate range of the scale, but the timed puzzles add enough pressure to give Text Twist 2 a bit of flare. Adding to the mix, the Lightning puzzles, which have you only guessing a single word using all of the displayed letters, tend to be a bit more difficult to solve, especially as you progress in rounds. The good news is that if you get stuck, the next letter in the sequence will show up as a quick hint. However, the cost of this hint is a fair amount of time, making for a good balance on this particular game mode.
Game Mechanics: Controlling Text Twist 2 is nothing more complicated that using the keyboard and mouse at their most basic levels. The mouse controls all of the interface elements, both within the game Menus and within the word scrambles themselves. However, you are fortunately not forced to use the mouse while playing, since you really need both hands on the keyboard to type quickly. Instead, the developers rightly allowed for a few quick keyboard shortcuts. The (Spacebar) allows for the shuffle of letters with a quick flick of a thumb, and the (Backspace) and (Enter) keys allow for the deletion and completion of letters and words, respectively. The (Tab) key also allows switching between words in the Lightning mode. Text Twist 2 is a fun and addictive game that offers up some decent word scramble gameplay for those who enjoy to test their brainpower with these types of games. There is a fair amount of difficulty involved in Text Twist 2 as you progress, so both newcomers and seasoned veterans alike will be able to enjoy the game. The main complaint that I have with Text Twist 2 is that some of the word usage feels a bit over-the-top for the average user. While some more hardcore word-based puzzle-goers will likely enjoy the game, others may find it a bit frustrating at times. In fact, I often found myself just typing in the scrambled letters in random (yet logical) orders, only to accidentally uncover the correct word. Aside from this annoyance, Text Twist 2's only other downfall is that there isn't as much variety in the types or word games within. Still, Text Twist 2 is a fun title at a budget price, and worthy of a download. This is a game that can be played for five minutes, but you can also look up at the clock and realize that an hour has passed without a breath of hesitation.
-Woody, GameVortex Communications AKA Shane Wodele
Minimum System Requirements: Windows XP/Windows Vista, 800 MHz Pentium or equivalent, 512MB RAM, DirectX   Test System: Dell Vostro 1700 Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo CPU T7100; Dual 1.8 GHz Processors; 2 GB RAM; NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
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