Scryptic [$1.99] from LKS GameWorks looks like a traditional Scrabble game. It has a board and letter tiles sitting on a rack, but trust me, the gameplay is VERY different. Two players start in different positions on the board and use words to combat each other. Each player can either build up words defensively around their starting point ("city"), or spread out towards the opposition, in an offensive attack. Sometimes there's additional city squares to be claimed, which can spark a word-race across the board to get there first, as cities offer extra protection.

There's not a 'double word score' or 'triple letter score' in sight. Instead, the squares on the board each represent terrain, like mountains, forests and water. And the rules around each type of terrain make this game really interesting. I'll give you two examples to demonstrate.� If you want to place your word on a blue water square, you must� form a bridge, by ensuring the first and last letter of your word are not in the water.� Whereas ice squares will crack and turn to water if you place any "heavy" letters worth 2+ points on them, drowning your entire word. The game mechanics may seem a little complicated initially, but the game walks you gently through the rules with tutorial levels and help screens, so you learn it pretty quickly. Although I took some notes, which proved helpful.

How does the combat work? Well, you simply deploy a word on top of, or adjacent to, the opponents word(s) to attack them. This isn't like scrabble where your letters need to fit in with the opponents words. You just link your own words together until your word-network reaches the enemy, then drop your word right over theirs to battle. The highest scoring word will be victorious, causing the defeated word to disappear. You can even cut off the opponents supply chain, by destroying connecting words to leave other words isolated and defenseless. It's like playing two different games of scrabble on one board, against each other.

The terrain also has an impact on combat. If your word crosses a mountain square, you have a higher-ground advantage so your word is strengthened. But if your word crosses water, it's weakened. And if you're fortunate enough to find a power token in the game, you can create "elemental forces" such as volcanoes, firestorms, droughts and floods, to strategically modify the terrain. I haven't discovered any of these yet, but I'm itching to flood my opponents words.

Your choice of words makes a difference, as the game is programmed to detect words associated with four topics:� Attacking, defense, sneaking or deforesting. So if you place a word like "kill"� or "sword" it automatically gains extra attacking power, whereas words like "fortify" or "shield" add defensive power. If you discover a word associated with one of these four headings is not rewarded, don't despair � you can add words via the options screen, or advise the developers via their word feedback form and they'll add it in.

The game ends when you capture your opponents city square(s) and you're rewarded by some obnoxiously loud trumpet blasts. Seriously, the occasional sound effects are not great. The game also ends if the letter tiles are all used or when both players pass twice in a row, in which case the player with the most points wins. Phew! That's enough about the rules. Although they are quite fascinating. It's quite unusual for the rules of a game to be a highlight!

Scryptic manages to successfully turn Scrabble into a strategic combat situation. You can play against a friend using pass-and-play or battle the AI opposition on 21 unlockable terrain boards, of different sizes. But be warned, this is a game of skill and strategy, and once you've completed the easy levels, the AI definitely steps up his game. The larger boards can take ages to complete, so there's many hours of game-play, plus 12 achievements and rankings via Game Center.

This game is perfect for Scrabble lovers, who enjoy competition and want to add combat to the mix. While playing the game for a few hours, I did experience one crash and a bug, but fortunately neither caused my game or progress to be lost. The developer advises he's currently working on his first patch upgrade. With Wooords and Scryptic both being released recently, plus a new update for Wurdle, it's a good time for word games!

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QuakeCon 2011 doesn't have a whole lot in store for id Software's mobile fans. The studio's focus is squarely sitting on the promotion of RAGE, which is hitting this fall. Even in past years the show has been more about the 'big' titles as opposed to the 'small' mobiles ones, but we thought you should check out the opening keynote from designer John Carmack anyway, which has been graciously uploaded to YouTube.

Carmack speaks with a totally unique voice. Not only is the dude brilliant and articulate, he's a visionary in the games design and technology field. What he says matters and what he does has mattered to mobile audiences in the past; we wouldn't have, say, RAGE HD [$1.99] or DOOM Classic [$1.99], if there wasn't a John Carmack. We also wouldn't even know what DOOM was if not for him and his team of pioneers. Anyway, here's the video:

The keynote is over a hour-long and we're still working through it. Dude hooked me within the first 15 seconds, though, so I'll be sticking around until the end.

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Do you like Minecraft, but find that all of the tedious mining, building, and exploration mechanics get in the way of your enjoyment? Are you a fan of crafting objects, but feel like a 3�3 grid isn't nearly hardcore enough? Yes? Then my friends, have I got a 6�8 upgrade for you.

At first glance, TerraCraft [Free] could be easily be confused with your standard match-3 affair. The twist here is that the game requires you to configure blocks into patterns for crafting items such as the planks, boxes, pickaxes, swords, and shields you've all come to know and love. This Minecraft-ian conceit takes the standard and kicks the variety up a… notch.

You begin the game with a small list of blueprints for items you can construct. Once the timer begins on each level, you drag and drop the designated materials (wood, rock, bronze, silver, gold) into the right pattern on the grid to "craft" an item and clear those materials from the board. Each item crafted is worth a set number of points, and the goal is to reach a target score before the timer expires.

As you advance through the levels, the point threshold for victory becomes progressively higher. �The number of material types grow, while the number of each individual material tends to shrink. These challenges are more than offset by the fact that the time limit also grows and that you unlock newer and more complex blueprints that are worth more points.

And that's a concern. The difficulty curve in this game is non-existent. In fact, the game gets progressively easier as time goes on. While there are many blueprints to consider, there are also a number of high-value yet easy to craft items that you can spam for maximum points. Once you identify them, you'll end up cruising. After the first few levels, I was never in danger of hitting the time limit, and after the last blueprints were unlocked I found the mystique wearing off all too quickly.

TerraCraft has some things going for it. For a ham-handed iOS gamer like me, the touch controls were much more responsive than I expected. I rarely had to redo moves. The game also sports OpenFeint integration, which gives some leaderboard support. While there's only one main theme to listen to, the music was catchy and appropriately conducive to getting my pickaxe zen trance on.

The game is ad-supported through the first few levels, but an in-app purchase of $1.99 is required to unlock the full game and get rid of the ads. For myself, I don't mind the use of ad-supported demos in general, but they should never directly impede the gameplay. There's no issue on the main menu here, but once you get to craftin', the ads partially obscure the bottom row of the grid. It's possible to work around them but hardly a welcome means of promoting your IAP.

TerraCraft succeeds in its stated goal of providing a Minecraft spin on the puzzle genre, but the game really could have used an additional layer of complexity to create a difficulty curve and provide some longevity to the title. Why not flood part of the grid with water or lava tiles from time to time to change the shape of the playing field and force you out of relying on certain patterns? Maybe introduce an enemy tile that eats points until you craft the appropriate item (sword, shield, etc.) to destroy them?

While I was definitely left wanting, it certainly can't hurt to give the free portion of this game a try for yourself. The Minecraft oriented theme, gracious lack of user-generated phallic sculptures, and chilled-out crafting action may be right up your alley. Personally, I'd rather punch a tree.

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I'm struggling to think of a modern game that cuts to the chase quicker than Match Panic [$.99], a matching game from the mind of Chaotic Box. In the game you're presented with three columns on three distinct plains. Two of them will present you with adorable lo-fi art that you need to match-up with the rotating art in the center column. Matching faster will net you rewards, while failure to line up objects with their cutesy look-a-likes will result in failure.

As hilariously simple as it sounds, it's a compact enough experience to earn our praise. And now it's coming to iPad via a Universal update slated for this Tuesday, August 9th. iCade and iControlPad support are coming on the same date, too, via a general update.

The iCade support in particular sounds like a great way to play the game. The increased precision and screen real estate that it allows should make for some tighter and generally more controlled action, though I don't think I'll ever reach the level of zen that dude in the above video matches with. I'm forced to live with my�mediocrity.

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