You’ve done it now; you’ve touched the magical time fridge. Now we have to travel throughout all of human history and fix time by matching words! How could you do this?
Alphabear 2 is a word matching game genre definer – it understands completely what it takes to make the experience satisfying and it gives it everything it’s got to make it fun.
At its core, the genre of word matching is essentially playing scrabble on a larger board with more puzzle elements. You need to match the correct letters to form words, so as to gain points.
In Alphabear 2, however, for every letter you combine to make a word, the board expands towards the maximum, giving you more letters to match. As well as that, in the successful letters’ place, you get… gigantic bears.
These gigantic bears will expand and absorb individual, smaller bears from other words you’ve made, giving you score bonuses based on the largest bears you make.[sc name=”quote” text=”These gigantic bears will expand and absorb individual, smaller bears from other words you’ve made, giving you score bonuses based on the largest bears you make.”]
This means it’s not just about matching the words, but matching the words in a logical order so as to maximize the size of your bear. A true master could make the whole board one massive bear; exactly the way the world should be.
To make the experience more interesting, letters will count down from their point of origin, only giving you a certain number of rounds before they expire. They go yellow, then read, to warn you of your impending problem; rocks.
The failed letters will become rocks, blocking your progress towards the ultimate bear, forcing you to accept a lack of point potential.
You can trick out your bears before the level, gaining massive amounts of multipliers to increase your scoring potential.
Individual bears have their own bonuses, such as the Zombie Bear giving you the ability to reveal three Z’s, letting you plan your future board out accordingly.
The playstyle of Alphabear 2 is something pretty standard to the genre, but it expands on it with these lovely original twists.[sc name=”quote” text=”The playstyle of Alphabear 2 is something pretty standard to the genre, but it expands on it with these lovely original twists.”]
The game has a surprising amount of depth and backstory, considering it’s about matching letters to turn into bears. You need to save the world from your time travel mixup by discovering all the possible words throughout history.
It’s essentially gibberish, but it’s zany and quirky so you can’t really complain.
Alphabear 2 is a silly little game with a simple premise, but it succeeds at its genre wonderfully. It knows its limitations as a game and works to its limit and doesn’t dazzle you with anything superfluous.
Is it the most amazing game you’ll ever play? No, of course not, it’s bears and letters.
Despite that, it’s still a lot of fun and a decent brain challenge, so go form some bears and build some words.
[review pros=”Great example of the genre and working towards its limitations. The game style is cutesy and endearing, not to mention fun.” cons=”The gameplay can get a bit dull due to its repetitive and limited nature.” score=8]
[appbox appstore id1352603023]
[appbox googleplay com.spryfox.alphabear2]
