Reviewed: December 3, 2010
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Anuman Interactive

Developer
Anuman Interactive

Released: November 11, 2010
Genre: Strategy
Players: 1

5
4
4
6
5.1

Game Info:

The concept is simple; a row of blocks with letters begins a slow decent from the top of the screen to the bottom. As the letters are falling you can rearrange their order so they form words, either amongst themselves or after they fall into position with any existing letters already resting on the bottom. You can validate the board at anytime which will find any words with 4-9 letters and score them accordingly before removing the tiles creating a cascade effect.

To help game things up a bit you have a few power-ups that get mixed in with the letters and affect the game board with explosive results. There is no multiplayer although you can take turns and compare scores using the leaderboards. There are also four difficulty levels, which will amp things up with faster drop speeds and fewer power-ups.

I really wish there was more to say about the game, but it really is that simple. The graphics are functional but not very exciting – something I would expect on the Nintendo DS, and the music is pretty bland and repetitious. Thankfully, there is a Silent mode.

There are a lot worse games out there you could spend a buck on, but there are also a lot better. I love the concept and for the first 15-20 minutes I actually liked the game, but I seriously doubt I will ever play it again, especially with killer games like Boggle and Scrabble and even Tetris, already out there. Alphatetrix never rises above the combined concepts of the games that inspired it.