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Review: What is the word

Apple II,

Play Word Munchers Online

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tornadocam
07-28-15 11:17 AM

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gamerforlifefor..
07-28-15 08:36 PM

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What is the word

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tornadocam's Score

8.2

07-28-15 11:17 AM

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tornadocam

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Word munchers is a game similar to Number Munchers. They are all made by the same company. Anybody who grew up in the 80's and 90's probably remembers playing this game in school or on the computer at home if you were home schooled. The game plays the same way as Number Munchers. Except now its about words.

Story: 5

Just like the Number Munchers who enjoy numbers. The Word Munchers are cousins to the Numbers except they like to eat words. The player must have the Word Muncher eat the correct word while avoiding the enemies to all Munchers the Troggles. The Troggels are troll like creatures that cause problems for the Munchers as they like to eat the them. Can you master spelling, letter sounds and avoid the Troggels?

Okay this is your basic educational puzzle game plot. The game introduces the Word Munchers well and the Troggels are known. It does offer some creativity as introducing another type of Muncher. This is an educational game so there is not going to be a plot or story line such as in a Mario or Mega Man game. I don't think it deserves higher than a middle of the rating cause well its a puzzle game. I don't think it deserves lower cause introducing the characters was a nice touch. I give the the story rating a 5 out of 10.

Graphics and Controls: 8

The Graphics and controls are very good for this type of game. They are also good considering this was in the early days of the desktop. The colors are basic the purple background, the white lines, the color of the mungers and troggels. Its pretty amazing they could create colorful graphics in the early days of computer gaming. The sprites are even good such as when a Troggle eats a Muncher was a nice touch. The only thing about the graphics is the white lines that create the squires do look a little fuzzy. But that is to be expected since this game is from the early days.

The controls are pretty basic. Basically you have to guide the Muncher to the correct words the game gives you. The controls are the arrow keys on the keyboard. In later versions the player could use a mouse to guide the Muncher. The controls though are very good for this being a computer game. So I give the graphics and controls a solid 8 out of 10.

Sound: 8

The sounds in this game are pretty basic. But one of my favorite sounds and what really drives the sound rating up is the sound of the Troggels. Having the Troggels make a munching sound when they eat one of your Munchers is a nice touch. The makers of the game even have the Troggel make a belching sound again a nice touch for one of the early games. The Muncher also makes a sound when you get the wrong word too letting you as the player know you goofed. If you eat the right word the game gives you a ping sound to let you know you got it right. That is pretty much the only sounds in this game. They are no stages, no theme music or anything like that. This as I have stated is a puzzle game. It would have been nice if the game had some music maybe classical or something like that. Still, the sounds in this game are very good so I give them an 8 out of 10.

Addictivness: 7

This game is a fun game and if you are learning how to spell words then this game makes learning the language arts fun. But I'm going to admit I'm a little bit biased here cause I'm not good at the Language Arts. I'm good at Science and numbers so I played Number Munchers more then I did this one. Still growing up in the 80s and 90s I played this game to help me learn spelling. It made learning the Language Arts more fun rather then have to write a word down 15 times for homework. Yeah that is how it was back on those days. The replay value is going to depend on your perspective. If your good at language then this game is probably going to be more fun for you. If your like me and horrible at Language but good at numbers then the Number Munchers is going to be more fun. Overall I give the replay value a good 7/10

Depth: 6

This game is not like a Mega Man or Mario game. There are no items to collect, no power ups to find or anything like that. Now with that being said the game does have some depth to it. The game gives you several spelling or word suggestions. For example find all words that have a long e sound in them, find the incorrect spelled words, for the words in the same word family etc. So there are lots of possibilities you can get. Again, the purpose of this game is to help you learn Language Arts. Also the game gives you a chance to earn extra lives. From what I remember the words the game gives you is pretty random so it changes every time you play the game. Since this is a puzzle game I give the depth a 6 out of 10

Difficulty: 10

The difficulty is hard to rate if you are good at spelling or words then this game would probably be a 6. If your like me and cannot spell, or hear letter sounds then this game is brutal. I was not good at spelling or language. That maybe cause I have Autism as I struggled in Language Arts classes but excelled at science and numbers. I remember playing this game a lot and it did help me but this game was brutal.

If your like me and can't hear letter sounds or spell to good get ready to lose lots of lives. If you goof and get the wrong word you lose a life. If you get ate by a Troggel then you lose a life. I often got the wrong word due to reasons above. Since I cannot hear letter sounds I would often get the wrong word. That happened to me more times then getting ate by a Troggel.

Speaking of Troggels here is were even if your good at words the game still is difficult. Were the Troggels appear is pretty random for the most part. They can appear anywhere. Thus, it is so easy to be going to the right word and have a Troggle come out of nowhere and have a tasty meal. They are several types of Troggels too some are more aggressive then others. Each Troggel also moves in a pattern some move in all directions, while some only move vertically or horizontally. Also the teacher or parent could adjust the difficulty of this game based on grade level so that could make things more difficult.

It should be noted that as you move up in levels you get more Troggels on the screen. This makes the game more difficult cause you have to find skills to avoid them and still get to the correct word. The game does give you a chance to earn extra lives which is good. On the other hand there is a lot of Randomness to the Troggels. Therefore, at the end of the day I give this a 10 out of 10.

Overall: 8.2

I got to play this game a lot because my Mom also worked at the elementary school I attended. So often times I would play games like this while I was waiting on her to get off. I admit I played Numbers a lot more then this game simply because I like numbers. But I did play this one too mainly to help me with my language arts classes.

This game is a pretty solid educational game. The graphics are good for a computer game coming from the early desktop computer days. The colors are just about right, the depth is right and the difficulty is just about right for this type of game. This game makes learning the language arts fun. When I was in elementary school we had 3 ways of learning words: writing the word 15 times, using the word in a sentence or playing Word Munchers. Believe me playing Word Munchers was so much better then having to write sentences or write words 15 times. In today's schooling they probably do not do that anymore due to Common Core which I doubt this game is played even more. Since from what I hear from my friends who are teachers today's schooling is more about passing standard test then learning. Hearing that it makes me glad I got to experience the good old days.

Anyway, back to the game review, so Word Munchers was a fun game to play despite it being a nightmare for people like me. Now for the negatives. The only negatives in this game are the fuzzy lines but that is to be expected considering what era this game originates from. The sound could have had a better soundtrack. I like games with very good music. Maybe they did not have space on the disc to put music on this game or maybe they did not think music would go well in this game. Still, they could have added a few more sounds.

Now I show a little bias and favor Number Munchers better. That is because as I have stated I was very good at Science and Math. So Numbers was a fun game for me to play to see how high I could get on the score. Word Munchers was more of a learning game to me if that makes any sense. I struggled with words so you can see why I would prefer Numbers.

Still, this is a good game and it would be a good game for parents who home school their kids. This game will help you learn words, letter sounds and spelling. It would be a great game to introduce to your child to help them with words. Even if you are not homeschooling this would be a great game to use as a tool to help your child learn wording and the Language Arts. If your child has trouble with words this would also be a great game. So would I recommend this game. Yes I would Recommend this game and as such I give it a 8.2 overall.

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Post Rating: 1 Liked By: jnisol,

07-28-15 08:36 PM

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Wow, this is a really good review you've made there. I find it interesting that you were able to come up with a 1,500+ word review for am educational game. You added a great amount of detail to the review, and you did a great job of explaining why you think gave each category the score you gave them. Overall, you did a great job.

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