XBLA Review: Boggle

Developer – EA Bright Light
Publisher – Electronic Arts
Genre – Family Games
Rating – E (Everyone)
Multiplayer – 1-4 Local / 2-4 Online
Price – 800 MSP ($10)

Boggle was one of those table top games I was never interested in playing, but my wife loves it. This was one of the few games that my wife had to teach me how to play. After a few games, I started enjoying it and the rest of the time we spent playing to see who knew the most words.

The core game of Boggle is a very simplistic. You have sixteen lettered cubes that sit in a four-by-four grid. The main goal of the game is to score as many points as you can by making words with the random letters that are sitting in the grid. Shorter words give you one point, where five and up letter words give you more points.

The game had a few good aspects about it. Learning the controls for Boggle was easy, and almost felt natural. The game also helps out if you happen to forget what to do, after a minute or two a pop-up tells you what to do. Besides the controls being easy, the graphics looked comparable to the other Family Game Night games. The game had the look and some of the feel of the table top version. The other interesting part about the game is the constant change in difficulty. Because you have to shake the grid to mix the letters up, you don’t have an idea what letters you’re going to get until it’s ready to start. I thought that was interesting, even though the table top version is the same way.

Other than playing the advanced version, this is another game meant to be played with friends or family. In its basic form, Boggle is fun for only a short amount of time. There is nothing to really grab the gamer’s attention. Playing the advanced version will keep you entertained a bit longer, but you’ll soon be getting bored and ready to move on.

All in all, Boggle is a decent game to pick up if you like word games, but no where near worth the $10 price tag. While the constant changing difficulty and the advanced mode make this game fun and entertaining, it will have a hard time keeping gamers playing for long periods of time. The game is worth playing the demo, and unless you’re a Boggle fanatic, you may want to pass on buying this. (B)

- Mike K