Spelling Challenges and More!
Score: 76% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Crave Developer: Crave Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 Genre: Trivia
Graphics & Sound: When I was in ninth grade, I took one of those obnoxious bubble tests that seem to drain your soul and make your eyes bleed. I still don't know what the point of it was, but I know that was the first time I realized I could not spell... at all. I tested at a level out of college for writing and English, but my spelling was barely at the fifth grade mark. I don't know what I was doing during spelling classes, but I apparently was not paying attention. This, my dear fellows, is why I specifically requested Spelling Challenges and More! when I saw it on the list of things to be reviewed. I actually got excited, which is fairly sad in and of itself. I might need to play this a bit more, but I actually think I am ready for that bubble test again! The graphics for Spelling Challenges and More! are unchanging and make me want to stab whoever thought burgundy and gold were nice together. It is like a bad high school reunion color scheme. It makes me think of a 1970's softball team. The music was cute, but repetitive (I swear I will throw a party when I get a game that has music that doesn't loop every ten seconds). The host of Spelling Challenges and More! is a strange looking little pixalated dude. I'm pretty sure he thinks Godzilla is coming to town, because his mouth starts moving and then his voice kicks in. I still haven't figured out if this is on purpose or not.
Gameplay: Gameplay for Spelling Challenges and More! isn't exactly what I thought it would be, but it is still brain enlarging. You start with the main "Challenge" mode that has one hundred different difficulties. For some reason, the game thinks that quickly flashing the word across the screen and then asking you to spell it is a good way to learn. The word pops up, you get a description, and then you are asked to spell it. The way Spelling Challenges and More! really works is more about memorization, however. I remember seeing it on the screen so for about thirty seconds, I can spell the word. Spelling Challenges and More! gives you ten words a round, and you get money for each round. For some reason, the money means absolutely nothing. You cannot unlock anything, and you cannot buy off the judges when your poor spelling starts eating away at your memory. Most of the other games are all variations of the same thing... find the word that is (or is not) spelled correctly. You go from picking the word that is misspelled, the word that is spelled correctly, to doing these while a bomb is ticking down. Some of them jumbled together in my head, which means they were way too similar to even make into a different game. Meh. The fact that I did not feel challenged for a good while says a lot about how they rate your level of knowledge in Spelling Challenges and More!. You can cheat a bit and chose to move up, but you must spell three words from that level correctly in order to move to that level. The words from the harder level flashes up on the screen too... logic must not have been a requirement in the making of this game.
Difficulty: As said, the difficulty in Spelling Challenges and More! is a bit weird. I'm not sure I feel challenged at all if the word is flashed across the screen before I am asked to spell it. The rounds are timed, so you don't have all day to sit and stare at the screen. The game determines your level of brainy-ness by how many answers you get correct in each round. It makes you feel really, really lame if you miss one. I mean, really lame. The word flashes on the screen, and you misspell it? Gah. Basically, Spelling Challenges and More! is more of a learning tool with a horrible color scheme. There are no weird combos or buttons to mash so there is no real learning curve for the game. There are over 25,000 words in the game, but even as the challenge level goes up, the actual challenge doesn't increase that much. How can it when the word is shown to you before you have to spell it?
Game Mechanics: Spelling Challenges and More! is very straightforward in terms of controls, especially for the Nintendo Dual Screen. You use your stylus and pick things off the screen. Voila! You have to love the DS... so easy to use! Spelling Challenges and More! is overly simplistic in the actual gaming process. The graphics are minimal, the controls are nothing a zygote could not figure out, and there is no real "game" in the game. It is more of a failed attempt at trying to educate the public. I don't really know if I would even rent this title, really. If you are looking for something to exercise your brain, get Brain Age or the like. Spelling Challenges and More! failed the bubble test too, I believe.
-Phate Kills, GameVortex Communications AKA Ashley Field
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