Scrabble is one of those games that most of us grew up playing on cold, windy, wet days were there was nothing else to do but look inside the cupboard and root around for a musty old board game. The Gameboy Colour version seeks to emulate the same experience with a multiplayer option, and the option of playing the computer opponents. The aim of the game is pretty simple, you get seven letters and make a word, the challenge is your spelling and having to connect your word to the words already given. The actual game mechanics here are pretty solid and if you're not too bothered about music or graphics, and just want a board game to play, this version of Scrabble is pretty fun. 

There is no story to the game, but I feel bad giving it such a low score as we already know when we start playing that there is not going to be any story line, but perhaps the developers could have put in a small room, or gaming area, where you could have challenged other NPC Scrabble players. I have put the story to 1 due to this, but have kept the overall marking to seven due to the fact that story does not really matter in terms of this genre.

The amount to do in the game is broadly shallow. There's two game modes, ordinary Scrabble and Conundrum, with the option to change the settings to make the game easier for yourself, and a different number of computer characters, from novice to expert, for you to choose from. You can also create your own profile. 

In basic Scrabble the point of the game is the same as it always has been, you can change the settings so that you have a chance of keeping your turn if you spell the wrong word, or using word challenge which allows wrong words so long as the computer, or your friends does not challenge these words. And if they guess wrong, and you are write, they lose a turn. There is also a timer, which you can turn off, as well as the music and sound fx.

In Conundrum the goal is to make words from the letters given, and gain points from a randomly selected board of word score multipliers. The options for Conundrum allow you to change music, sound fx and the timer. It also has a Show Best Word option.

The game, it needs to be said, has terrible music. The music is dull, repetitive and annoying. There are five different songs to choose from and each one is, to me at least, as annoying as the last. These can be, thankfully, turned off so that you do not need to listen to the synthesized bleeps.

Sound effects are generally okay, however, there's not much to be said about them other than they do the job of making you think you're placing tiles down.

Graphics for the board are good; tiles and the game board itself are well represented with the primitive pixels and there is nothing unrecognizable. A magnifying glass has also been added to allow you to see the board clearer as well, so there is no need for straining your eyes in the 16-bit colour scheme. The characters, the NPC ones that is, are alright themselves but not very attractive in an artistic sense. The backgrounds to these people as they make their choices is very poor and, again, unattractive and the animations for most of the characters is very limited, repetitive, dull and you can spend a lot of time waiting and watching them while they make their move. There are animations, for example a champagne bottle being opened, which are entertaining and feel like a pat on the back when you have just won.

Difficulty is quite high, I would say, unless you are a regular words smith. The NPCs offer a high to low challenge. The Novice character usually scores between 80 to 150 points. The Easy character scores between 150 to 250. The Medium character scores closer to 300. The Hard and Expert are depressingly good at this game and average at about 15 to 30 word points per turn. I am sure that with some practice they are easy to beat, but I am not that good at spelling at the best of times.

The game is addictive, however, especially if you are in to word games, conundrums and, or, word puzzles. The game offers everything regular Scrabble has to offer, the only difference is that it is your computer that you pass around, and not the board game. To be honest in that respect this game is better, you never need to worry about tiles getting shifted around during turn rotation.

I will say that this game is not superior to the actual board game. There may be other, better, Scrabble emulators out there but this game does not offer the same easy experience that the board allows. The NPC characters are no substitute for real people and can be a drag, they also have impossible knowledge of words that no one should know exist and can create tight patterns which are difficult for one to use for their own words. I wouldn't say avoid this game, if you're seeking Scrabble, it is a worthwhile play for an hour or two and offers a genuine Scrabble experience... of playing with a dictionary.