Word Mess
A unique way to develop vocabulary and visual scanning
APP DETAILS
Developer – Masala Games
Age – 13 years +
Subject – Literacy
Special Need - Dyslexia
Score – 76/100
Price – £2.29 / $2.99
App Store Link - http://geni.us/pEG
Play Store Link – Not Available
Windows Store Link - Not Available
App Review
Word Mess is one of my favourite word games. It is part word search, part word cloud and although it is very simple to get the hang of, it is also highly addictive. Part of the appeal of Word Mess is its beautiful design but it also contains enough of a challenge to stretch even the most accomplished of readers. Everything about this app screams quality.
Three Modes of Play
Word Mess contains three different modes of play – Quickplay, Survival and Challenges. Within Quickplay you will discover three great games. The first is called Find. It is a straightforward word finding task where users have to visually scan the screen to locate particular words. For example, they could be shown the word “brilliant” and then have to find it several time on a page full of words. These words are not placed in a word search type grid, instead they are just there on the page. Easy to find you would think, but add different sizes, colours, fonts and orientations into the mix and the task suddenly becomes a whole lot harder.
The second game is Categories and here players have the opportunity to test their knowledge of vocabulary. For example, the category might be “car types” and hidden within the grid will be words like “van”, “hybrid” and “coupe”. The third game is Rhymes and asks users to find words that rhyme together. For example, if the selected word is “done”, words such as “won”, “son” and “none” will appear within the grid.
Survival Mode
The next mode of play is Survival and it contains just one game - Odd One Out. As the name suggests all the words in the grid are the same except for one. So a page full of the word “yes” will have one “no” and a page full of the word “cry” will have a “laugh” in it.
The final mode is Challenges and here users have the option to play against friends by tapping on scores or achievements. Likewise, you may receive challenges from friends to beat their scores.
Great for Vocabulary Development
Word Mess is a great twist on the traditional word search and a fantastic way to practice your visual scanning and word recognition skills. It will also help to expand your vocabulary because the words you have been unable to find or simply did not know are revealed to you at the end of the game.
Word Mess does not contain any adverts and is currently available for £2.29. Parents should be aware that players can link into Game Centre to play against their friends. There is no parental gate on this link. For this reason, I have put the recommend age at 13+ but with supervision it could be a useful app for children below this age as well.
I note from the App Store that in-app purchases are available for Word Mess but I have had the game for over a year now and have not encountered them. Indeed, when writing this review I specifically tried to find them and could not so they are really not a big factor.
Try out Word Mess and let me know what you think.
Peter
Educational App Advice
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