Magic Words Arcanum

The title of Arcane Grandmaster conjures thoughts of necromancy and black magic, yet aspiring to this grandiose position is more a matter of enlarging your lexicon. Words are the instruments by which you aspire to greatness in Magic Words Arcanum. No black magic to be found in this wordy role-playing game, although there are some dark spots in an otherwise largely enjoyable adventure.

In Magic Words Arcanum, your goal is to string letters together to form words using hexagonal tiles that fill the screen from top to bottom. Creating a word is a matter of tapping the first letter, then tracing your finger over adjacent letters to complete the term. If successful, the letters disappear from the screen allowing new ones to take their place.

While letters are cleared from the screen, tiles always remain stationary. As you use letters, the corresponding tiles change colour. Each level possesses a particular colour scheme; for example, the game's set of forest levels shade the tiles green. The darker the shade, the more times you must employ that tile's letters before it's considered cleared. A light green tile may only take one use, but a dark hue might require two or three uses. Once you've employed a tile enough times, it turns grey; advancing to the next level is a matter of greying out all the tiles on the screen.

The random orientation of letters contributes disproportionately to the game's difficulty, often giving you unworkable groups of consonants that can't be formed into words. A shuffle feature allows you to rearrange tiles in extreme cases and spells can toy with the letters in your favour. Basic three- and four-letter words can almost always be traced out, but only longer words net you any serious points and gems needed to unlock spells. Words with five or more letters reward you with more points and gems that you can spend on spells that clear unwanted letters or swap their positions on the board, among others.

Casting a spell can momentarily make things easier, but much of the challenge posed by Magic Words Arcanum is derived from having to spell out words at various angles. Hexagonal tiles entertain possibilities at six angles, which is much harder than picking out words situated along horizontal and vertical lines. Picking out words that are spelled out backward, upside-down, and angled augments an already challenging task.

There are also snakes that randomly appear with new letters that fall from the top of screen, syphoning precious points with each turn. Only by creating a word using the letter they come attached to stops you from hemorrhaging points. These sneaky fiends add a sense of urgency to the game that would otherwise be absent. While you're never pressed by time to create a word, the arrival of a snake shifts the focus of the game from point building to crisis mitigation. Fail to trace out a word and rid yourself of a snake in so many turns and it's game over.

Snakes, spells, and a random assortment of letters – all of it comes together for a title that's a tad too difficult. Magic Words Arcanum is the sort of game you may never master, squeaking past each level with an stable of small words. While it may not enchant you, it casts an entertaining spell nonetheless.