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What I like about the Hector: Badge of Carnage games is how comparatively different from one another they are. The gap between We Negotiate With Terrorists and its follow-up Random Acts of Justice [$4.99 / $6.99] highlights not only the breadth and scope of the adventure genre, but also Straandlooper’s willingness to use episodic content as an avenue for experimentation and iteration.

There are some technical improvements to note — Straandlooper have added helpful on-screen cues to show players precisely where they’re tapping, and Random Acts of Justice is significantly longer than its predecessor — but Hector’s cirrhotic core remains largely unchanged: it's still a competent adventure, smartly written and well-designed.

Random Acts of Justice doesn’t stray particularly far from established tropes — puzzles are solved by navigating dialogue trees and manipulating items with a cast of quirky townsfolk – but Straandlooper is deft in their adjustments. There are some particularly clever setpieces. There’s a section in Hector is trapped in a building and Lambert must rescue him (after adopting a child) that’s particularly nice. Oh! And the bit with the date-rape drugs!

Straandlooper's most effective change was structural, though. The first game in the series was fairly strict in its pacing — titular Detective Inspector Hector is given three assignments, born fully-formed from creators Dean Burke and Kevin Beimers' collective thigh. The game ends when they are completed.

Ep2 loosens its grip, letting players suss out the game’s objectives for themselves. It's not enough for players to solve a puzzle — figuring out the puzzle itself is often the first step toward progress.

In other words, Hector felt like a (well-voiced and fully animated) flunky in Ep1, but he becomes a cop in Ep2: each step following logically from the next. The first game tasked Hector with simply completing assignments, but Ep2 is about gathering knowledge, using that knowledge to formulate a plan, and then executing that plan by blackmailing people in a brothel.

It is, to lift a term from television, procedural. From beginning to end, Random Acts of Justice drip feeds new places to explore and new people to interrogate, each piece fitting snugly into another like a giant matryoshka with villains at the center. Random Acts of Justice develops and unfolds, with a well-defined arcs for both story and gameplay.

The puzzles in “Random Acts of Justice” are, on the whole, better and more varied, but it’s really Hector’s up-grade from tchotchke-hoarder to investigator that pulls the game together. In Ep1, Straandlooper lampooned crime shows with pithy-one liners; here, they do it by taking the jumpy, outsized logic of Legally Blonde and creating a set of puzzles and narrative beats to exploit it.

The way Random Acts of Justice couples its investigative puzzle-solving with Hector’s job title is an effective, though perhaps genre-specific, tweak, but it stumbles sometimes in execution — there’s a long middle-section that, by and large, consists of navigating dialogue trees just so. These types of "puzzles tend" to be least fun of any adventure game because they get so repetitive and feel so strict. Ep2 also breaks the fourth wall with annoying regularity — it was a cute, knowing wink Ep2, but that humor technique, too, can become repetitive.

My only serious issue with the game, though: Lambert, Hector’s bumbling partner. The Hector series allows players to ask Lambert for hints and presents it as a viable, in-game option — it is, in other words, not cheating. Unfortunately, Lambert’s dialogue options are often based on information that the player hasn’t learned yet, effectively turning Hector’s hint system into a de facto spoiler machine. This type of cagey gating is annoying in any case, but doubly so in a game that depends on the slow osmosis of knowledge and lateral thinking.

Lambert also reveals — at the end of the game — that he had solved the case hours ago and kept the information to himself. This, I think, was originally conceived as a hilarious joke about both Hector and Lambert’s incompetence, but it just serves to undermine all of the work the player has so skillfully been doing for the last several hours.

Nevertheless, Random Acts of Justice is so well-designed and -written so often that I’m willing to forgive. The game stands well enough on its own, but in the context of the Hector: Badge of Carnage series as a whole, it’s a valuable lesson is just how much experimentation the adventure genre can stand while still feeling familiar and grounded. Straandlooper have an eye for characterization and parody, and they were smart to put their faith in the genre veterans at Telltale Games — it’s served them well so far and, I suspect, will continue to do so when Hector: Badge of Carnage wraps up in its third episode.

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King of Dragon Pass [$9.99] originates from what I consider to be on the tail end of the golden age of PC gaming, where developers focused more on depth and originality instead of texture resolution and polygon count. In fact, King of Dragon Pass is a fantastically extreme example of this as there's no polygons to speak of, and the graphics only really consist of a assortment of hand-drawn illustrations to accompany whatever event is taking place at the time. I think the easiest way to describe what the game is all about is to call it a largely text-based menu-driven mash up of a Civilization game and a Choose Your Own Adventure book. If you're the kind of person who requires flashy graphics, fast action, rock-bottom pricing, and online multiplayer, stop reading now. This is not the game for you. If, however, you can barely even fathom a more glorious conglomeration than Civilization and Choose Your Own Adventure, prepare to absolutely lose yourself in King of Dragon Pass.

The game is set in the fantasy world of Glorantha, created by Greg Stafford, and used in several other traditional roleplaying games, literary works, and even a board game. The universe was originally imagined in 1966, and is chock-full of things which have since become standard in fantasy-based worlds. The people of Glorantha are the pawns of an array of both new and old gods who offer various benefits in exchange for worship. Magic and supernatural occurrences play an important role in the world, and aside from the typical races found in most fantasy worlds like elves, dwarves, etc, Glorantha is also home to strange humanoid hybrids such as anthropomorphic ducks and scorpion-men.

It's in this world where your clan will settle. The game begins with a brief history of your clan, which goes all the way back to the "Godtime" where gods and people lived side by side. This part of the game plays very similarly to a Choose Your Own Adventure book, with the game tossing a hefty amount of backstory at you while offering you choices along the way where you decide things like your clan's main deity, how you feel about dragons, how much land you're going to take up, and other things like that. The cool part about this, which persists through the rest of the game, is that there's no wrong answers to any of these questions. You never hit a point where one decision you made caused the game to end, instead, the decisions you make have consequences, and a main part of King of Dragon Pass is how you deal with those consequences– But more on that later.

After you establish your clan's history, you come up with a name (mine have all been fart-centric) and decide if your clan is going to be peaceful, balanced, or focus on war. From there, you decide on either a normal or hard difficulty, with the main difference here being what your clan starts with. On normal, you're dropped into a reasonably well equipped settlement with existing trading partners and allies. Alternatively, on hard mode, the game basically treats your clan like you just wandered to a plot of land and decided to make it your home.

From there you can choose one of two victory conditions in either "short" or "long" games. In a short game, you win by forming a tribe with neighboring clans, getting one of your clan members elected to be the tribal king, and hold that position for ten years. In a long game, you'll need to take this one massive step further in convincing other tribes to form a kingdom, and lead one of your clan members' ascension to the position of King of Dragon Pass.

Accomplishing these goals is ridiculously difficult, and requires a serious understanding of the game's mechanics. King of Dragon Pass comes with a huge in-game manual (huge for an iOS game, anyway) which I seriously recommend reading cover to cover. The depth of the game leads to various systems which you'd never utilize or fully understand otherwise, which was the source of every single frustration of mine with the game initially. There's a small tutorial which helps you get started, but I think the best tutorial would have just been a huge button that says "No, really, read the manual."

These various mechanics involve everything you can imagine that would go into managing a fledgling clan trying to make it in the world. You'll need to keep an eye on your clan's population, the number of people filling various roles in your clan, and how many of them are sick or injured. Everyone in your clan has to eat, which requires either successful farming, or trading with nearby clans. Also, a clan without wealth can't really be taken seriously by other clans when forming alliances or trade agreements, so you also need to keep up your production of goods and establish trade routes to keep the economy flowing.

Exploring is also important to find new clans to engage with, who might not always be friendly… Which is where your clan's defensive and offensive capabilities come in. As I've played, I've chosen to take a defensive stance and really only attack when provoked, but you could just as easily be a warring tribe and let your proverbial fists do the talking when it comes to negotiating and taking what you want from other clans. There's so many more little ins and outs that I can barely even summarize them all, even after spending nearly a week with the game now I feel like I'm still finding new ways to approach challenges.

These random challenges are what initially attracted us to the game. They happen quite often, and always keep you on your toes. These random occurrences could be something like a surprise raid from a feuding clan. If you've got a force ready to fight, you could take them head on, or if you're vulnerable because you've sent most of your warriors to accompany a particularly valuable trade caravan you might opt to focus on evasive maneuvers and survival.

Explorers could stumble across a potentially powerful set of runes, but how you choose to deal with them could potentially result in upsetting your clan, the gods, and other things down the road. Refugees from other clans can seek admittance to your clan, and you can decide whether to greet them as equals, or take them as slaves. These random events can be completely ridiculous too– The best example I've seen of this is a ghost that potentially comes to haunt your settlement. Among other options, you can pursue legal action… And depending on how you've structured your clan and the strengths of your leaders, it can work.

What I like most about King of Dragon Pass is the seemingly infinite possibilities that the game has. The previously mentioned random occurrences are drawn from a pool of around 500, but none really ever have a "right" or a "wrong" answer. As you role-play your particular clan and play to its strengths, you could see the same problem pop up in future games, but the way it's dealt with and the outcome could be substantially different. Similarly, the simulation engine that powers the whole thing seems to completely embrace the whole "there's no wrong way" philosophy that permeates the entire game.

Success, it seems, comes from really playing the game making decisions as if you actually were a part of your clan. Just because there's not necessarily a right or wrong way to do things doesn't mean that your approach can't fail. In fact, you'll likely fail quite a bit as you get a handle on the game… But, understanding why you failed, and consulting the manual to learn what you could have potentially done differently to better manage the events that ultimately lead to your clan's demise is ridiculously rewarding.

Similarly, the flexibility of King of Dragon Pass doesn't make it an easy game either, even on the easy difficulty level. I think it most reminds me of playing a fairly realistic flight simulator in that you can realize your plane is going down, and you know you need to pull up, but there's also all these other buttons and switches that need to be hit at the right time and in the right order to make what seems like a simple maneuver actually transpire properly.

In King of Dragon Pass terms, you could have a random occurrence that suddenly leads to a disease outbreak amongst your farmers. The more time your farmers spend in bed sick, the less time they spend producing food for your clan. "Heal the farmers" seems like the obvious answer, just like pulling up in a flight simulator, but it's not that simple. To heal via magical means, you'll need to sacrifice to gods. If you're already low on resources, sacrificing even more can make the situation much worse. Alternatively, you could send out warriors to raid a nearby tribe to steal supplies from them, but the raid could fail, or worse yet, you could over-extend yourself and be defenseless if you get raided while your warriors are out on their raid. You could attempt to go out trading for food, but your caravan could be ambushed or not result in enough food anyway.

It's weighing all these options and executing the best potential course of events based on an entire dashboard of information on your clan has made what I initially thought was just a silly Choose Your Own Adventure style game into one of the most in-depth and strategic gameplay experiences I've had so far on my iPhone. I'm not sure how I'll ever tire of it either, as the replay value is through the roof because of how much variance there is in every different clan and every situation.

My only complaint with the game is that I wish it was for the iPad. The interface feels cramped at times, there's some weird text scrolling issues that wouldn't exist on a larger screen, but most of all– Games like this that I want to spend hours on end playing are just flat out more enjoyable on the iPad compared to hunching over your phone. There may be light at the end of the tunnel though, as the developers seem to be receptive of the idea and want to see how iPhone sales go first, but aren't ready to commit to anything yet other than bug fixes to the small-screen version.

Hopefully I've done a good enough job here explaining what this game is all about, as I think if you understand what King of Dragon Pass actually is, and you want it, there's no way that you won't love it. We try to avoid pricing discussion in our reviews, but I think in this case the $9.99 price point is totally appropriate. This is a deep game, and definitely targeted at a niche audience. That price point will make people stop and research what the game is before buying, then feel much more inclined to actually get invested and learn the game instead of tossing it aside like most of the other totally disposable 99¢ titles flooding the App Store.

I've had an absolutely fantastic time playing King of Dragon Pass. Its slow pace makes it a perfect mobile game. Nothing in it is real time, making it totally conducive to just open the game up, send a trade caravan off, then come back to it later without any negative consequences. Cultivating a successful tribe is totally rewarding, and the random occurrences always keep you on your toes so it never seems like you can just fall into a comfortable successful groove where your clan is just on cruise control. I'd love it for my iPad, but either way, I can't get enough of King of Dragon Pass.

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We don't often post about Kickstarter stuff, but lately three separate vaguely related projects have caught my eye. Just for the sake of clarification, I'm not posting these to encourage anyone to contribute to the projects (unless you feel compelled to, of course) but rather, to raise awareness of awesome indie game stuff in the works that I think both iOS gamers and developers will appreciate. With that out of the way, behind door number one we've got Star Command:

We've had our eye on Star Command for quite a while now between our initial unveiling and the release of additional screenshots. In a nutshell, War Balloon Games is taking the casual simulation gameplay formula that Kairosoft has seen so much success with and applying in to a totally native iOS game… Instead of, err, a weird and obvious port of a mobile phone game. It sounds like it has some serious potential too, as the above trailer has succeeded in getting me totally excited for the game.

Door number two reveals Venus Patrol:

If you're not familiar with Offworld, you really should be. It's a video game site that focuses more on the whole "games as art" thing, covering various indie games, projects, and studios that often get passed over by the more "mainstream" gaming press. Initially ran by Brandon Boyer, Offworld really hit its stride under his command from 2008 to 2009. Since then he's gone on to become Chairman of the Independent Games Festival as well as one of the three founding members of Austin-based indie collective Juegos Rancheros.

Venus Patrol aims to pick up where Offworld left off in providing analysis of the creative culture of video games with the hopes of showing a "wider creative world" that there's so much more to video games. If you're into swag, the bonuses the Venus Patrol backers get are a indie swag hound's dream come true with contributions from:

• Wallpapers by Keita Takahashi, creator of Katamari Damacy
• Minecraft skins from Pendleton Ward, creator of Adventure Time
• Four exclusive games from Canabalt creator Adam Atomic, Vlambeer, Superbrothers, and Johann Sebastian Joust
• A unreleased Sword & Sworcery 7" vinyl EP composed by Scientific American
• Various other physical swag like 'zines, trading cards, embroidered patches, and more.

And last, but certainly not least, behind door number three is IndieCade 2011 Conference Videos:

I've heard so many good things about the IndieCade event, but like most people out there, I haven't been able to make it to one yet. IndieCade has been referred to as the "Sundance of videogames" and features talks, sessions, and workshops from some incredibly huge names in the indie game development scene. There's art exhibits, and tons of playable games, both upcoming, already released, and massive-scale real world games. If their KickStarter project gets off the ground, this year's entire event will be documented and viewable online so you can check out all the potentially inspirational and thought-provoking content found at the event from the comfort of your home.

For more crazy projects, head over to KickStarter yourself. There's absolutely no shortage of great ideas with tons of potential (and usually very entertaining videos to go along with them).

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1112 Episode 3 [$4.99/HD] is the latest addition to the graphical mystery adventure game series from Agharta Studio. It's also the best of this ongoing series, as it delivers more: More game-play, more puzzles, more characters, more locations and a whole lot more mystery.

We first meet the games protagonist, Louis Everett the antiques dealer, in Episode 1 [$4.99/Lite/HD]. Louis bears a striking resemblance to Johnny Depp, but he's having bad dreams, marital issues and work stresses. As you help him complete his daily tasks, it becomes apparent that something weird and mysterious is going on. There's a gap in his memory which Louis can't explain, and the number '1112' seems to keep recurring in his life. This game is about solving that mystery, but don't expect a final outcome yet, as each episode concludes with a cliff-hanger ending, to entice you into the next release.

After a long wait, Episode 2 [$4.99/HD] was released in 2010. It resumed the same storyline and continued in a similar fashion, but with a few more characters, locations, and puzzles, including the addition of three suduko puzzles as mini-games, which sent some players off to find online sudoku solvers.

Episode 3 opens with a brief recap of the first two episodes, which is a useful reminder if you played it years ago, but wouldn't really enlighten a newcomer about the storyline and atmosphere of this game. You could easily play this series starting with Episode 3, but that would be like starting with the third Harry Potter book. If you want the full experience, we recommend starting at the beginning.

Episode 3 features the same high-quality graphics and music that we've come to expect. Each object in your inventory is presented as a 3D rendering, which you can rotate or zoom with your fingers to examine more closely.  Like any graphical adventure game, the goal is to find, use, give and combine objects to solve problems and progress the storyline.

You also need to converse with various characters, for clues or to reveal the next objective. This involves tapping on any green words in their (unspoken) subtitles to collect "conversation starters". Alternatively, you can use a keyboard interface to enter certain words manually, such as answering riddles, or just try entering "1112" to see what various characters think of the games mysterous title.

Prior to release, we were told Episode 3 would contain a longer campaign than the first two episodes combined; and that has eventuated. It's considerably longer and more involved and could easily take 10+ hours to complete. Despite the longer storyline, the English translations are much improved this time around.

One of the main changes from earlier episodes is that specific objectives are now listed and ticked off once accomplished, which prevents players from getting lost within the longer plot and larger game-world. Fourteen Game Center achievements have also been added and are listed without descriptions, to avoid spoilers.

This game will be a challenge for most people to complete without some assistance. There's a lot of returning to previous places and people, even though you may think you've already covered them off, which requires patience. But don't fret, as there's plenty of hints from the developer in our forums, plus step-by-step walk-thrus for each episode are easily located via Google, so you won't get stuck for long.

If you're not ready to purchase this game, consider checking out the lite version of the first episode, as 1112 is easily one of the better quality adventure games on the App Store. This series is getting better, but since it takes the small development team at least a year to produce an episode, this intriguing mystery may not be resolved for a few more years; but we'll be waiting.

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Hey, guys, did you know it’s Labor Day weekend? It is. And because it’s a weekend in which some people are finding something to celebrate, Electronic Arts has decided to throw a big sale on the App Store. Imagine that.

This latest price-slashing jamboree isn’t the most spectacular it has ever thrown, but it’s still one of the hardest hitting of the current crop of Labor Day sales we’ve seen thus far, especially when it comes to big name and budget properties.

For a limited time, you can grab a bunch of racing, sports, action, and other assorted titles for $.99. The iPad companions (where applicable) to these, on the other hand, have all been reduced to $1.99. Here’s a list:

• SHIFT 2 Unleashed – $2.99 → $0.99
• SHIFT 2 Unleashed for iPad – $4.99 → $1.99
• Need for Speed Hot Pursuit- $4.99 → $0.99
• Need for Speed Hot Pursuit for iPad – $9.99 → $1.99
• Need For Speed Undercover – $2.99 → $0.99
• Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12 – $4.99 → $0.99
• Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 12 for iPad – $6.99 → $1.99
• Tetris – $2.99 → $.99
• Tetris for iPad – $7.99 → $1.99
• Dead Space - $6.99 → $0.99
• Dead Space for iPad – $9.99 → $1.99
• Dragon’s Lair 2: Time Warp – $2.99 → $0.99
• Fight Night Champion – $4.99 → $0.99
• FIFA 10 – $2.99 → $0.99
• FIFA 11 – $2.99 → $0.99
• FIFA 11 for iPad – $9.99 → $1.99
• The Sims 3 – $6.99 → $0.99
• The Sims 3 World Adventures – $2.99 → $0.99
• The Sims 3 Ambitions – $4.99 → $0.99
• Scrabble – $1.99 → $0.99
• Scrabble for iPad – $9.99 → $1.99
• The Game of Life: Classic Edition – $2.99 → $0.99
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – $2.99 → $0.99
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for iPad – $9.99 → $1.99
• RISK – $2.99 → $0.99
• RISK for iPad – $6.99 → $1.99
• NCAA Football – $2.99 → $0.99

If you're looking for a key pick in all of this, I would definitely take a gander at Dead Space or Tetris. The latter is a classic and works surprisingly well with touch, while the former is a ridiculously sharp touch-specific iteration of the horror franchise that actually has something to say.

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Back in May, we were quite taken with the crazy trailer for Techno Kitten Adventure [Free], mostly due to it featuring a large man in a horrible cat suit. Techno Kitten Adventure was released last year as an Xbox Live Indie Game, and has a pretty dedicated following. Developer Elite Gudz was in the process of revamping the entire game with shiny new graphics and playable kittens, as well as bringing it on over to the iOS platform.

A couple of weeks later, Techno Kitten Adventure did launch in the App Store, and got a solid stamp of approval from yours truly during our podcast that following week. In fact, that was the first inklings of the now world famous Jared’s Kitty Korner portion of our podcast, which makes Techno Kitten Adventure somewhat historically significant.

Then about a month after that, an update was released for Techno Kitten Adventure that added the internet’s most famous feline the Nyan Cat as a playable character. Sadly, the powers that be who control everything Nyan Cat related didn’t take too kindly to this addition to the game, and shortly thereafter Nyan Cat was removed and replaced with a parody cat that flies backwards and barfs a stream of rainbows. That’s a pretty fair trade in my book, to be honest.

Now another brand new update for Techno Kitten Adventure has landed and it adds in another one of the internet’s favorite obsessions: bacon. Or less specifically, meat in general. The new Meat Pack comes completely free and offers a brand new song, a new extremely meat themed level, and 3 new playable cats made from various types of meat. It’s a lot of meat to be sure, but I know for a fact that’s just how Brad Nicholson likes it.

Also, the entire gist of Techno Kitten Adventure is to test your ability to play a cave flyer game with as many obnoxious visual distractions as humanly possible constantly flying in your face. The new meat level takes this to beyond the extreme. Not only is there crazy meat stuffs flying all over the screen at all times, but the entire screen itself is prone to zooming, shaking, and even flipping horizontally so you’re all of a sudden moving in the opposite direction. Basically, if you’re prone to nausea or vomiting, the meat level might test your will.

When it comes down to the actual gameplay, Techno Kitten Adventure is about as basic as a cave flyer can be. Jetpack Joyride [99¢] this is not. But, when you factor in the absolutely bizarre and elating sights and sounds, it’s a hard game not to enjoy. Techno Kitten Adventure is my immediate go to game when I know I need a smile or I want to get an annoying dance song stuck in my head. Also, kittens. Who doesn’t love kittens, am I right?

Since the game is initially a free score limited version with the ability to upgrade from within the app, the best way to see if Techno Kitten Adventure is the right game for you is just to download it and see, or stop by our forums for more player impressions.

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If you needed one more reason to be jealous of folks who live in Austin, TX, aside from having nearly unlimited access to the best barbecue on the planet, try this on for size: This weekend, Tiger Style's new game will be playable at Juegos Rancheros at The Highball. If that sentence doesn't hold much weight for you, allow me to explain.

Tiger Style is the team of guys behind Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor [$2.99 / HD], which not only was our 2009 iPhone Game of the Year but also took home several other awards such as the Independent Games Festival's best iPhone game. Juegos Rancheros is an equally awesome monthly gathering of independent game developers that started as a casual thing and since turned into an event that even has attracted the attention of Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward.

Details on what Lost Mars is all about will likely be incredibly limited until the event this weekend, but the Juegos Rancheros site offers this tidbit:

What do you get when you mix one part METROID, one part 1970′s-era sci-fi film, and one part… gardening?!

I don't know what you get when you mix those three things, but I do know I couldn't possibly be more excited about it. The second we get more details we'll post 'em.

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Word games are some of the earliest and most venerated titles on the App Store, and still developers continue to find ways to refine and revitalize the genre. The popularity of Words With Friends and the resurgence of updated standards like Wurdle demonstrate clearly that there’s life in the old girl yet. Genre mash-ups are another energizer; from PopCap’s Bookworm Adventures on PC to the upcoming Word Fighter on iOS, sprinkling in just a few new letters can make the difference between snore and adore.

In the case of Quarrel Deluxe [$4.99/Lite], the twist comes in the form of strategic gameplay. A fresh and fun take on the Scrabble formula, the game sports bright visuals, intuitive mechanics, and a crunchy outer layer of macro objectives that gives the sweet casual core longevity and depth. Think of it as an adorable war of the words.

At its most fundamental, Quarrel Deluxe is more or less a hybrid of Scrabble and Risk. The goal of each match is to claim all the territories on the map from your opponents. After you choose a faction to represent your soldiers (robots, aliens, ninjas, highlanders, etc.), the computer will divvy up the board’s zones between you and the AI players and randomize who gets the first move.

The first phase of each player’s turn is the attack phase. You can select a territory to attack from and then one of your enemy’s to invade. The number of troops you invade with then determines how the ensuing word battle plays out.

Both sides in a territory skirmish are given the same 8 letter tiles, which represent a mixed up anagram. Just like Scrabble, each letter tile has a point value attached to it, but since both sides have the same tiles, the maximum point limit (achieved by spelling the whole 8-letter anagram) is the same for both teams. This is where the strategery comes in to the wordsmithing.

You can put one tile into play for every soldier you have in the fight. If you only have four soldiers to work with, you won’t be able to play the whole anagram. Instead, you’ll have to find the most valuable combination of four tiles from the eight you’re given. If you’re outnumbered, then even the highest possible total for your soldiers can be defeated by the AI just by playing STARS when you play STAR.

Thankfully, the game simulates human error and will occasionally flub one even when it has the advantage, which gives you incentive to play your best even when the odds are against you. You will regularly experience the thrill of a come from behind victory, which is one of the best feelings you can have in a word game.

Time can be a factor, so coming up with words quickly is ideal. If both you and your opponent achieve the same point total, then the player who submits their word first is declared the victor. The AI does seem to have a major advantage here, as I don’t think I’ve once submitted a winning word before my opponent had buzzed in. Some game modes offer unlimited time to think about your words, while others will put you on the spot and give you a countdown timer.

Minor quibbles about timing aside, the word battle mechanics are solid and extremely entertaining. However, it’s the metagame of deciding what territories to invade and when, along with how you distribute reinforcements when your attack phase is over, that makes the game truly stand out from the crowd for me.

Blitzkrieg a wide swath of the map, and your enemy can just sweep through your poorly defended annexations when their turn comes up. Turtle up in your territories for too long and you’ll quickly find yourself outnumbered; reinforcements are doled out on the basis of how many territories you control. While the maps are nowhere near as large and complex as the Risk board, there are plenty of opportunities to engage in wily play like capturing choke points that can be easily reinforced and defended.

Before I continue, I think it’s pertinent to bring up something about myself. I am primarily a single-player gamer. I have railed long and frequently about the mistakes that developers make in awkwardly forcing multi-player gameplay into titles that just don’t need it when they could just focus on improving the single player experience instead.

With that disclaimer behind us, this game really would shine with a multiplayer component. The strategic and word mechanics make this title an ideal staging ground for PvP, and its absence is a gigantic missed opportunity for Quarrel Deluxe. It would have pushed the game into killer app territory.

Don’t get me wrong, the lack of multi-player does not take the shine off the overall package here. It is a smartly produced and full experience as it currently exists, and the value proposition is assuredly there. Pick up the lite version as a demo at the very least, and you’ll likely be swayed into a full purchase of the deluxe package as I was. Daily challenges keep the game fresh, Twitter integration lets you brag to your followers about how gr8 ur speeling iz, and the bright presentation makes Quarrel Deluxe a game with wide appeal that you’ll want to keep coming back to.

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