Games for Lunch: CrossWorDS

In a nutshell: Crosswords + DS = Super Mario Galaxy. Wait a minute...
7/21/2008 6:30 PM | 0 Comments | Page 1 of 3

Developer: Nuevo Retro Games
Publisher: Nintendo
Release Date: May 5, 2008
System: Nintendo DS
ESRB Rating: E

0:00 I became moderately good at crosswords during my college earth science course. Thank god for the college paper for saving my sanity.

0:01 The DS is held sideways, like a book, which seems perfect for a game like this. I don't feel I really need any "training" to know how to work a crossword puzzle, but I'll humor the game... why not.

0:02 Double-tapping a square on the touch screen zooms in and lets me write the appropriate letter. The clues and the larger puzzle remain on the other screen. A pretty good setup.

0:03 The letters show up in red if they're wrong? I nice concession for beginners, but it would never fly for professional crossworders (Yes, they do exist. You should all go see the movie Wordplay).

0:04 As if the red letters weren't enough, you can also get extra hints! Up to 10 per puzzle! At least the game gives you a time penalty for cheating this way.

0:06 The first, sample 4x4 puzzle is really easy to solve. I like how the game auto-scrolls to the next square after I enter a letter. The on-screen arrows make it easy to move around without ever zooming out, too. So far, the software is excellent as recognizing my bad handwriting much better than the similar Brain Age!

0:07 Interesting crossword clue of the moment: "Nintendo.com is a really interesting Web ____" (4 letters).

0:08 On to the real thing. Only easy and medium puzzles are available initially. Let's go for broke with Medium! Whoo!

0:09 Good God! There are 15 pages of "medium" puzzles, with 20 puzzles on each page! Of course, only the first four pages are unlocked to start, and most of them are basic 4x4 grids. Bleh.

0:10 Let's start at the start and take it away with puzzle 1. The game asks if I want to be told when a letter is wrong. NO! I'm the type that does my crosswords with a pen, thanks.

0:13 The first puzzle is giving me lots of trouble. Besides knowing Shrek is an OGRE, I'm pretty stumped.

0:15 Once I figure out physicians can also be called DOCS, it all falls into place. I get an A+ for my 4:08 completion time. That seems pretty lenient. I didn't use any hints, I guess, but a good crossworder would have finished much more quickly.

0:17 I have a much easier time with puzzle No. 2 completing it in 1:02. The hardest clue: "To take long, languorous steps." (LOPE). Should I get an A ++ or something for finishing even faster?

0:18 The first clue on puzzle No. 3 is "They provide milk" (4 letters). And here I was thinking this was a family game!

0:19 Oh... COWS! Never mind.

0:20 Puzzle 3 goes down in 1:14. Stupid clue of the moment: "Half of Meredith?" The answer is MERE. I know... I couldn't believe it either.

0:21 OK, these 4x4 puzzles are getting old already. I jump to puzzle No. 6, which is 7x7. It even has some blacked out squares, like a real crossword. Whoa!