For any parents fearful of their offspring becoming vidiots while sitting mesmerized in front of a computer screen, this little edutainment gem from PopCap might just change their minds about the advantages of the electronic babysitter. Bookworm Adventures is not only (yuck, dare I say the word) educational, it is also entertaining to even the most jaded tweens, mainly due to the fact that they get to kill bad guys.
It has taken the best of the original game, producing words from given tiles, and expanded it to a confrontational, fighting game against some odd characters. The bad guys consist of a variety of demons, vampires, monsters, and varied compilations of Mythological creatures. Like the player character, the enemies have different powers and attributes which require a minor amount of finesse when choosing the best attack.
The gameplay screen.
Bookworm is not an especially difficult game and it’s above average in the “fun to play” arena, especially when you score with an obscure or lengthy word and your conquering move is accompanied by thunderous sound of total annihilation. The first expanded word you build (or in my case, accidentally find) entices you to try to one-up yourself to a better scoring word. It even has you getting out the dictionary to learn new word spellings to rise to higher levels on the scoreboard. Hint: scientific terminology scores HIGH!
Graphics are pleasing to the eye and the background music is pleasant for the most part. Another nice thing about B.A.D. is you are not confined to creating words within a time limit. This feature is great for everyone who plays, but it is especially accommodating to the younger player. It enables them to take time to build words that they may not even know the meaning of and still guarantees them a higher score. The Final Scoreboard rates players with report card type grades.
Lex is on a mission!
The game features three storybooks, over 150 enemies and 10 -20 hours of entertainment to play through all the levels. You play the game as Lex, a horn-rimmed, bow-tied, lime green worm who chomps his adversaries. This player only scored a C+ the first time around and I have an above average vocabulary. When I saw my score was only considered average I was pleasantly surprised, felt challenged to improve my rating, and started a new game immediately. I am convinced that this game will increase the word power of any player who has the ability to read. Heck, even the three-year-old who watched me play wanted to join in the fun.
Recommendation:
As a word-building, monster fighting puzzle game, Bookworm Adventures Deluxe is easily worth the $20.There’s more enjoyment, charm, and value in this package that in most full-priced retail games.
Bookworm Adventures
System: PC
Developer: PopCap
Publisher: PopCap
Find: Amazon
All reviews are based on final retail code unless otherwise noted.
April 27th, 2009 at 5:07 am
That looks like fun.
April 27th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Heh, I would definitely like this. It doesn’t sound as fun as this one PC vocabulary game I downloaded a trial of once that I cannot remember the name of! *sob*
April 27th, 2009 at 9:19 am
While the power was out, I sat on my laptop and played this. It’s adorable, and if you don’t watch yourself you can end up playing far longer than expected. Such is the allure of PopCap…
April 27th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Games like this are important to show parents out there that video games aren’t just about murder and mayhem (as fun as that is) - hee hee! Definitely wouldn’t mind giving it a shot
April 27th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
It was fun!! I throughly enjoyed this title.
April 28th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Actually Taryn, technically Bookworm has a pretty high body count. Lex kills about every mythical creature known to man.
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October 13th, 2009 at 2:35 am
You can have up to ten text widgets. ,
October 22nd, 2009 at 5:42 pm
I like the billable hours part. ,
October 23rd, 2009 at 2:23 am
Other developed countries also used foreign ownership restrictions to help them industrialize. ,