Fifty Words by POWGI review for PS Vita, PS4, Switch

In my experience, word searches don?t make for the most interesting gaming experiences. For the most part, they don?t do much other than copy their paper-and-pen/pencil counterparts, with a grid and a bunch of letters. It?s simple, and even if it?s not thrilling, it works.

Within those limited confines, Fifty Words by POWGI seems relatively revelatory. It recognizes that there?s nothing forcing a digital word search to adhere to the usual X by X grid format. Instead, it sends letters off in all directions, and you have to hunt around to find your words. It also takes the neat step of making every letter part of a word, which definitely reduces the time spent hunting and circling.

The downside of knowing that every letter is in a word is that it makes the game fairly easy. It?s not like word searches are all that hard under most circumstances, but in Fifty Words? case, it meant that even when I knew nothing about a topic (say, the moons of Jupiter), I was still able to figure things out by the process of elimination. Given that I was able to solve even the toughest puzzles in under four minutes, and that there are only 60 puzzles on offer, you can see how that would mean that you?ll probably find yourself finished with the game well before you want to be.

But it?s better to leave people wanting more than to wear out your welcome, right? As a long-lasting time-waster Fifty Words by POWGI may have limited value, but if you?re just looking for a neat twist on standard word searches, it?ll do the trick.

Lightwood Games provided us with a Fifty Words by POWGI PS4/Vita code for review purposes.