Who hasn’t challenged their brother or sister, cousin or best friend to a game of hangman on the back of whatever paper scrap you could find? My favorite childhood games were word searches that played vertically, horizontally, and diagonally both forward and backward. But technology has brought us into a new high-tech world. Thanks to Hoyle Word Games, kids today (that’s kids of all ages, mind you) can play word searches on their computers as well as their Palm Handhelds. The folks at Sierra Family Games have made the most of an old/new combination by taking some of the old favorite word games and bringing them into today’s computerized world.
The Hoyle Word Games by Sierra Family Games is a collection of nine popular games including Anagrams, Crosswords, DoubleCross, Enigma, Hangman, Speedy Racer, Word Searches, Word Yacht, and Wordox. The latest edition, Word Games 2002, has added the Word Searches for Palm OS Handheld as a bonus. If four versions of Hangman are not enough to keep you occupied, try 1,200 challenging crossword puzzles from Dell Magazines, the puzzle experts. From rolling the dice in Word Yacht to racing the clock and unscrambling letters in Anagrams, these old favorite games brought up to tech speed are just plain fun.
You are the boss when it comes to playing options. During the setup, you can select your game options for computer characters, animations, and background music. Then you can change them at any time, depending on your mood, preference, etc. Get family and friends together on the same computer for a head-to-head competition.
There are great options when it comes to characters. You can play against Hoyle’s computer characters. Opponents come with their own voices, unique attitudes, and playing styles. You control whether or not they speak and how often. You can even adjust their attitude. Just move the slider towards Serious to have the characters talk less or move to talkative if you like a chatty opponent. Add sound effects for pizzazz. Background music can range from calming to pulsating, depending what sets the correct tone for your gaming skills.
Many of the Hoyle computer programs include a feature called Facemaker. You can create an on-screen character to represent yourself. Users can create their own personalized character by choosing hairstyle, clothing, and facial features.
If you have a Web browser and an Internet connection, you can play with distant family and friends or meet up with new opponents for free. Word Games will connect you with an Internet site that offers tournaments and multiplayer action. Select your game from a long list of computer games and click. If crosswords are your thing, you can pick easy, medium, or hard versions and challenge another player to competitive crosswords game. The Online Crosswords tournaments are especially popular
Once you have set up your opponents and selected the perfect environment, the games themselves come to life. In the Speedy Racer game, select the Save the Pigs version and watch the ever-stalking fox blast off the screen with a rocket backpack. The Go To feature can switch you between games with only a click. I clicked Enigma and really had some decoding fun. You could select either quotes and proverbs to unravel (or both) and play in a mechanical or mystical setting. I liked the mechanical approach of combining the old-fashioned typewriter keys with the screen of a modern PDA. Taking the timer off and keeping the vowels as vowels gave me some welcome assistance. Everyone needs a little help now and then.
There are enough word games in this software to entice everyone from kids to grandparents. However, if word games are not for you, try the Hoyle Board Games. This set of sixteen games includes classics like Chess, Checkers, and Battling Ships. It also includes Snakes & Ladders, Chinese Checkers, Dominoes, Backgammon, Parcheesi, Chinese Tiles, Yacht, Reversi, Mancalla, Placer Racer, and Line ‘em Up. Games like Battling Ships come alive as missiles fire, missed shots splash in the water, and opponents’ ships sink to the bottom. A game called Placer Racer is a fun arcade game that will delight players of all ages. The kids will love Snakes & Ladders and Line ‘em Up. Many grownups will applaud the addition of Mahjong to this edition of the Board Games program.
This Hoyle Word Game software is for you if you want to have some good old-fashioned fun on your computer. But be careful, these games can keep you plenty busy. How long would it take you to do 1200 crosswords, timer or no timer?????
