Scrabble (GBA)

The GBA screen is just up to showing the full standard board onscreen (an SP isn't essential here) and supports two levels of zoom. Its dictionary is impressively large without any obvious omissions. It does include a range of obscure words some more dubious/obscure than others (e.g. gadso, unde, miaul, bas, smirr, euoi and many more). It plays well and that it doesn't have major shortcomings is to its credit.

There are a few negatives. The AI plays well across its 10 levels. However, it's readily beatable on the highest level (although no walkover); if you're no stranger to 280-300 points and above when playing a single opponent you'll will more often than you loose. It doesn't seem to play tactically and plays (well) for points rather than avoiding opening up multipliers for the next player. A nice touch is that it will (admittedly very rarely) play invalid words and forfeit its turn; this would be more impressive if it didn't often repeat the error for succesive turns.

There's room for improvement with game settings: auto-tile pick can't be changed once a game is underway. There's no in-game save (and its saving of profiles and statistics is woefully random, although this might just be my cartridge). It'd be nice to be able to turn off player animations so you can see the full board during its turn.

It's a poor cousin of the PC version: there's an anagram game but no "Duplicate" Scrabble. It's not terribly quick when playing and can take up to a minute on the highest levels.

GBA version of board games aren't for everyone and this won't sway the Scrabble-adverse. Like the GBA itself it's probably aimed at younger users (or at least young adults). The ability to play in three languages other than English may appeal.

From other comments the Gameboy Colour version may be worth a look although if the forthcoming Scrabble Blast (May 2005, this is currently listed on Amazon too) addresses the niggles here it'd be definitely worth the wait.


Not as good as Gameboy Colour version   September 23, 2003
Richard Herring (London UK)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

I agree that the Gameboy colour version is far superior and that the advance version is too easy to beat in expert level. It also seems to get stuck in a sequence of passing moves for no good reason.
I would like to see a version where instead of the animated opponent you are able to see the board and your letters for the next go, so, as in a real game, you have time to work out your potential move whilst waiting for your opponent to go.
For the moment buy Scrabble for Gameboy colour which is still a pretty fine version, despite having to wait for long periods without being able to see the board


Scrabble - fit the whole board into your GBA!   May 23, 2003
M. Paget (Herts, England)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

This is a great game, excellent for taking on holiday with you, and you can play up to a four player game on it and pass it round to your mates when it's their go. You can zoom in on the board for those with poor eyesight, and change the graphical style of the board too. As for it being easy to beat, well I must be a right thicket 'cos playing the CPU, it soon gets as tough as nails. The only game on the GBA I know of where you can drink and smoke at your leisure while playing it - now that's my kind of game!


Scrabbling for purchase   May 10, 2003
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

Scrabble for Gameboy Advance is quite simply one of the best ways to while away boring train journeys. As one might expect, the graphics are a little more polished than the Gameboy Colour version. Graphical representations of the 10 different levels of computer opponent muse away in a pop-up window on the computer's turn to move. Two mini-games in the form of anagram and conundrum are thrown in by Ubi-soft, and provide a little lexical diversion.

Whilst the level of computer-intelligence is no match for better players even on the top levels, the game has a suitably extensive array of words at it's fingertips and will not hesitate to use words most people will never have heard of, and in all likelihood will never see again.

So why the average score?.. well it could have been better without one or two minor niggles. Where is the option to save a game midway through? Also, although rare, I have noticed that the computer occasional fails to add up correctly on higher scores! Words that go through two triple word scores are often scythed down in value for reasons unknown, and the high score table for individual words does not add on the 50 point bonus for using all 7 letters. There are different board styles to play on, but these are generally not as clear as the original board, and therefore of little use.

I am a big scrabble fan and would recommend this game to players of all abilities. It's scrabble in your pocket, and you won't lose any the pieces. What more do you want?

If Ubi-soft can improve on the artificial intelligence (the computer appears to have no qualms about opening up triple letter scores, and will frequently pass or change letters at the end of games when it could easily be playing words)then this could spawn an essential sequel.


Scrabble on the move...   April 11, 2003
L. Bowers (Uk)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Having been a fan of Scrabble for many years now, I had to think long and hard before shelling out my hard earned cash on the GBA version - Could a small portable console do it justice? The answer to that question is a resounding YES. Presentation is excellent and the control system is very intuitive. The usual game options are all available ("Lose Turn" for a wrong word etc) and the official Scrabble dictionary is in there, albeit in a *slightly* trimmed form. The playing board is very crisp and easy to see, with the exception of the "D" and "O" tiles looking a little too similar when glancing at the board IMHO - A minor quibble. The CPU opponents seem fairly competent, but let's face it, Scrabble is best played against human opponents (up to four in this case). Thoroughly recommended...