Scrabble for Nintendo DS Reviews & Ratings by IGN

EA has been on a board game kick recently, first dropping Trivial Pursuit on the major consoles, and it's now following up that release with Scrabble on the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. While it doesn't add as many good and new twists to the formula as the former release, Scrabble does offer players the ability to take a classic game on the road with them without having to worry about tiles sliding all over the place when the bus driver slams on the brakes or a drink cart catches you in the elbow for the millionth time.



The main mode's setup is identical to the board game. You get seven letter tiles, and on your turn you try to make the highest-scoring word you can by adding to or branching off of existing words. Certain board spots are marked for bonus points, like double letter or double or even triple word bonuses. It's a simple setup, but one that can be very addictive for wordophiles. If that's a word.



Up to four players can play in the main game, with the computer filling in for as many slots as you'd like. Both local "pass the system" and WiFi play are supported, which is nice. You have a limited number of options for each game, including the computer's playing level, whether you want to turn on Challenges (leaving them off won't let you play an invalid word, while turning them on will let you play whatever you want but your opponents can call BS on you) and score or time limits.



My main gripe with this and the game in general is that the computer's difficulty only applies to its scoring, but not its word choices. Even the lowest-level computer opponent will play all sorts of words that you've likely never heard of before. The only difference between the dumb and smart AI is how many points they score. So the dumb AI will play a lot of two-letter words, while the highest-level AI will use as many tiles as possible and in the best way it can. While I was still able to dominate the weakest computer opponents, it still seems unnatural to me that it'll use words that most of the populous hasn't heard of before.



Still, ignoring this trait, the game can still be fun when playing against the computer. You still have that challenge every turn of trying to figure out the best thing you can play and in the best position, which I find to be a good deal of fun. It's certainly nothing new, but it's still fun.



As far as extras are concerned, there's a Training option that'll let you play a series of small word games to get your brain churning. I found these to be amusing for about five minutes, and then I was ready to move on. In addition to the classic rules, you can also play Slam or Speed rules Scrabble. Slam is completely different than the base game in that you have a series of letters and you see a word at the top of the screen. You can replace one letter from that word with any of your tiles at a time, so if you have an "E" then you can change "Stop" to "Step". This isn't turn based, so the faster you can use your tiles, the better.



The Speed option uses the Classic rules, except that there's a running timer. After the timer drains, you lose points over the course of your turn until you actually play something. Unless you like running against the clock or your friend takes forever to go, this mode probably won't do anything for you.

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