A funny thing happened on the way to the forum. On Day 654 I reviewed “Tiles With Buddies”. I ended up inadvertently re-reviewing it on day 1026. Realising my mistake, I authored a different review for “Kick’n It”. Of course, that’s not actually the review that got *posted*. Below is the one that was posted, but please check out “Kick’n It” to see what *ought* to have been posted.
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I was a bit conflicted on trying this one. For those who don’t know, the board game Scrabble was shamelessly ripped off by casual-gaming giant Zynga into the game “Words With Friends”. I played it on my Windows Phone and, yeah, it’s essentially just Scrabble. “Tiles With Buddies”, however, actually does some things to set itself apart. For one, it actually has solo/offline play, whereas my “Words With Friends” was online multiplayer only. For another, it has two modes of play (“Classic”, and a timed mode called “Rush”). It supports online play for up to ten (!) people, or offline play for up to four people. An interesting feature is in-depth stat tracking and comparisons for every player you’ve ever played (which is a feature I would appreciate in a lot of games, so it’s nice to see it here). Well worth $1 (or whatever 80 Microsoft Points used to be worth in your local currency) if you’re a fan of the Scrabble genre of board games (which has, with the release of the near-identical “Words With Friends” board game become a genre I suppose).
Here’s what the developer (Gazido Gaming) has to say about the game:
“Your favorite word game has now arrived on the Xbox! This overhauled classic now includes: TWO different game modes, GLOBAL high scores, in depth stat comparison with EVERY player you’ve EVER played, and TEN player ONLINE! Do you accept the challenge?”
Writings of Mass Deduction 