[iOS/Android] Alphabear, free-to-play word game

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Hipolito
Posts: 2187
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:00 pm
Location: Chicago, Illinois

[iOS/Android] Alphabear, free-to-play word game

Post by Hipolito »

I'm hooked on this one. It's like Word Yahtzee; you have a board of letters with which to make words. But a few cute little bears are also on the board. When you use letters, they disappear from the board, providing space for the bears to grow taller and fatter. Letters will eventually become useless rocks if you don't use them quickly enough, blocking the bears' growth. When all the letters are cleared or turned to rocks, the game ends and scores you based on how big your bears grew.

If you score high enough, you get another bear for your collection. That bear will try to make sentences with the words you just made. Most of them will be gibberish, but you occasionally get some gems and can post them to social media. Here are a few that make me proud of the person I've become (NSFW language):
Spoiler:
Image Image Image Image
You can take three bears into a board. Each bear has its own abilities such as boosting your score, making certain letters more often, or giving you more time in timed levels. There are over a hundred different bears to collect and level up across the 10 chapters of the game.

Honey and Coins

There are two currencies in this free-to-play game: honey and coins. Most boards have a honey entrance fee, and a few special boards require coins to play. You can also use coins to wake bears from hibernation (a bear sleeps for a few minutes or hours after you use it). The game gives you free honey and coins over time, and you can watch a daily ad to get a little more. When I reached Chapter 3, which is when the game starts getting challenging, I paid $4.99 to get unlimited honey. This is helpful so that I can keep playing without waiting for more honey. Unfortunately, there is no unlimited coins option.

Mo Honey Mo Problems

Some problems I have with the game:
- On my little iPhone 5 screen, it's a little hard to distinguish C's from G's and I's from L's.
- The game keeps track of your high scores, but not the longest words you used. I wish I could go back and review my clever wordsmithing.
- You have to have internet access to play the campaign, and this app has a little more difficulty than most in detecting your internet connection. You can play a closed-off set of levels offline, but won't earn any bears in this mode.
- As the game gets more challenging, you'll have to think about which bears to take with you, and there is no way to filter your bear collection so that you can quickly find the optimal ones.
- This game is a grind. Forming big words will only take you so far; you have to level up your bears so that they'll boost your score high enough to beat the chapter and progress to the next one.

Certainly a recommend for word game fans, at least to try.
User avatar
Hipolito
Posts: 2187
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 2:00 pm
Location: Chicago, Illinois

Re: [iOS/Android] Alphabear, free-to-play word game

Post by Hipolito »

I quit this game when I reached chapter 6. Even while using an anagram-making website to cheat, I had to grind and grind to beat the chapter 5 boss bear.

This game is similar to the company's previous Triple Town not just in the cute bear theme, but in the way it's charming and fun until you see what a big old grind it is.
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