Review: Word Jockey
Score:
85%
It's not often that you play a new game and wonder why on earth noone's thought of the idea before. But that's what I was thinking when reviewing Word Jockey. Not because of the horse racing metaphor for winning and losing, but because of the idea of a word game played with extreme time pressure. Word Jockey also manages to present a super-slick and rather pleasant interface, making it a sure fire hit all round.
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Do note that Word Jockey is currently only showing in the Ovi Store for the Nokia N8 - hopefully the developers will tick the relevant flags soon and other devices will find this available.
Here's the gameplay concept: you have eight random letters and you have to think up words of three or more letters than can be made from the list, tapping the words out one at a time, whereupon new random letters appear to fill the gaps made by the ones you just used - so the pool of letters keeps getting altered, adding a new and always different level of difficulty to the game.
So far so good - it's a neat word game. But where Word Jockey races away down the track is in where it goes next. For every word you achieve, your horse and jockey avatar gets given a dose of speed - the longer the word, the greater the speed boost - which gradually dies away, so you then need another word, and so on. Meanwhile, two computer-controlled horses (pacemakers, effectively) are galloping steadily towards the finish line beside you. Think up words which are just three letters or think up words too slowly and you'll start to fall behind.
In practice, this all works superbly and generates a real feeling of adrenaline, since the mental pressure just never lets up. Throughout, the interface helps, with 'Shuffle' reordering the letters randomly, in case your brain needs a visual boost. 'Delete' puts letters from your current attempt back in the pool, in case you suddenly think of something better.
There's an interesting stategic element here too, which isn't immediately obvious, in that if you keep going for the 'easy' letters, the harder ones (to fit into a word) end up being what you're left with and then you'll really struggle. So when you get the chance to dispense with a V or a K, even if it's only in a three letter word, take it quickly and get some new letters.
There's a cheesy music soundtrack which I found distracting and turned off within about three seconds, plus a vibration feature which.... didn't seem to do anything on the N8 - I guess this is still being worked on. Word Jockey doesn't really need either sound or vibration though.
An element of eye candy is provided by racing 'round' a choice of four courses - you don't actually deviate from a straight line on-screen, but it does give you a different track backdrop to race on, at the very least, a nice touch.
Three difficulty levels mean that the game will suit everyone from a seven year old child to an adult Mensa member. On 'Easy', the other horses don't overtake you and you're guaranteed a win as long as you keep thinking of words - here you're just playing for the fun of, well, playing.
On 'Medium', the likes of you and I have a fair old challenge on our hands - if you're alert and have some coffee ready and are good with words then you should get in some wins, as I did. Great fun. On 'Hard', the opponent horses gallop faster and you've got to hit longer words and hit them faster in order to stay ahead - it's really very tricky and I didn't manage a win in this mode.
A delightful game concept, professionally implemented, and good value at £1.50. Nextwave just need to widen compatibility and they're home and dry.
Steve Litchfield, All About Symbian, 14 April 2011
Reviewed by Steve Litchfield at