Browser Game Pick: Clockwords (Gabob)
Alex Shen pointed this one out to me and I was quite taken by it. Clockwords is, would you believe it, a word game which involves firing off as many words as possible to stop the oncoming robot spiders and stop then stealing your secrets!
There are certain letters listed at the bottom of the screen which are more powerful than others and using them in a word will make your cannon fire much more powerful missiles at the baddies. If you manage to use all the listed letters in a word, a new cell will open you so there are even more strong letters at your disposal.
It starts off simple but soon gets very hectic as you try to think up long words while the spiders get closer to their goal. The art and music are beautiful throughout and really give the game a great atmosphere. There are also some wonderfully simple ideas thrown in there, such as using Dictionary.com's 'Word of the Day' as a special, almighty powerful word, and also allowing a second player to control the direction the cannon fires in.
Comments
There's some blatant profiteering in here - the better word bonuses have to bought with real money.
It's their right to do what they want but they're not very upfront about it.
Posted by: KaL | September 29, 2009 6:24 AM
Really their is only one special thing you can't get normally. Everything else can be earned with unlocks.
Posted by: Z | September 29, 2009 8:07 AM
Game makers who try to refinance their projects? Geez, those sick bastards, how could they?!
Posted by: Jonas | September 29, 2009 9:02 AM
Indeed, Z! The item purchases are for those who don't want to (or don't have the time to) spend the time to earn them by playing the game itself. The Brainstorm item is the only one that requires purchasing and though it's pretty awesome to see, it's definitely not required to beat the game.
Poo on jumping to conclusions!
Posted by: Mr. Shen | September 29, 2009 5:35 PM
Sorry, Mr. Shen, but it's still pretty shitty.
Posted by: Mark | September 29, 2009 10:12 PM
Wow, let's jump on the micropayment-bashing bandwagon. Not to white=knight, but this game's free as in beer; the cash just makes advancement faster. And, at higher levels of play (I'm mired on the 40's atm), you get pretty good tiles just for beating the stages. No, it ain't super-easy, but I've got several 2 and 3 dot jade and brass tiles and I'm not even registered. This game isn't wonderful, but it isn't "pretty shitty," either.
Posted by: deadacc | September 29, 2009 10:54 PM
Lancelot, I wasn't trying to say that the game was shitty. It was the silly "buy bonuses for cash!" Korean-MMO-crap that I was referring to.
Posted by: Mark | September 29, 2009 11:26 PM
Point taken; still, it took American ingenuity to sell micropayments to the masses; historically, see Everquest, or just consider any modern console game with DLC. The folks from Seoul just wish they'd invented the concept.
In any case, since the game in question isn't likely to change, try replaying level 35 or any other level that has fewer small spiders. Easy to win, and starting around level 30, it gives good odds for 2 to 4 dot tiles dropping.
Posted by: deadacc | September 29, 2009 11:44 PM
You're alright, deadacc
Posted by: Mark | September 30, 2009 1:23 AM
In fairness, the game doesn't make it obvious you *don't* have to buy letter tiles until a bit later on.
I played, had some fun, made poor tile-transmuting decisions, gave up.
Posted by: Mister Bile | October 2, 2009 12:00 AM
Pretty fun game, though later on in the game when you get some explosive letters it starts getting easier to pass levels by having your game full of vowels and your specials only. It starts getting messy when you start getting Z's and V's involved, so I'd just keep them in storage.
Posted by: Alexander Bruce | October 6, 2009 4:17 AM