Wordsworth is a game quite similar to the Popcap classic Bookworm.  On the plus side it’s quite fun, has a professional appearance, and costs less than half of the price of Bookworm.  On the downside, the guy in the hat isn’t quite as charming as the worm from Bookworm.  I can live with the downside.

The basic premise is that you are presented with a grid of X by X tiles (where X can be a number between 4 and 7, configurable in the options).  You progress through the 30 levels by making words out of the letters that appear on the tiles.  You can drag your finger across letters to link them, in which case releasing your finger will clear a successfully formed word.  Or, if you like a bit more control, you can click each letter you want to link together.  In order to submit a successful word in this case you must click the check mark at the bottom of the screen.  The game ends when any of the following scenarios are met: time runs out (timed mode only), a timed tile expires, there are no more letters to be formed, or you beat all 30 levels.

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There are a nice amount of options in Wordsworth.  Add to that bonus tiles and buzzwords, and 3 different word lists to choose from, and there’s certainly plenty of variety to keep you entertained.  The controls are actually pretty well implemented.  There were times where I’d accidentally “overshoot” and link too many letters together when dragging my finger, but this is a minor quibble and is easily overcome by using the “tap a tile” method instead.

Graphically, Wordsworth looks pretty sharp.  The interface is well laid out, everything is easy to read (even on the biggest grid setting), and pretty much everything looks like it goes together.  I’m not a real big fan of the guy in the splash screen, and for some reason the layover of the status screen when transitioning between levels seems a bit cheesy to me, but otherwise I like the look.  The sound effects are good enough, though the riff that accompanies beating a level sounds more like a losing than winning sound.  The music is really good.  It has an almost magical quality about it, maybe like something you’d expect in the background of a movie about magicians or carnivals or something.  It’s actually quite relaxing.

Wordsworth might not have all the glitz of Bookworm, but it certainly will keep you entertained for quite some time.  If you like word games that have an almost “match 3″ feel about them, this is a good game for you.  If nothing else, there’s always a lite version that you can check out.

Final Verdict: Recommended
App Store Link
App Store Link – Lite Version
App Shopper Link

[Note: image courtesy of App Shopper]