Word Academy is a new word puzzle similar to games like Scramble With Friends. Does it have that one-more-go hook that puzzle games need?
Word Academy tasks the player with finding certain word in a grid of letters. Letters can be selected in any direction and finding the word awards points with faster finds awarding more points. Hints can be used to reveal letters and more hints are earned by beating level tiers and sharing on Facebook.
Later levels get harder. There are multiple words and it’s a good bit of fun to puzzle out what they are. These words are often related so you’ll get things like BIG LITTLE or TINY LARGE. A few like PARTY CLUB make less sense though.
Word Academy is one of those games that is so simple and quick that it’s perfect to play in a line or when there’s a few minutes to kill but robust enough that it can be played for 10 or 20 minutes. Of course there are puzzles that you’ll get stuck on but the game is quite generous with hints and word association helps make the harder puzzles easier.
Word Academy really has some questionable word choices. The game doesn’t allow you to find words that you might notice in the matrix of letters but rather just the word it’s looking for all but forcing you to use hints if you don’t happen to find the word it wants,. This is in stark contrast to most find a words where the idea is to simply find words. Early in the game I was presented with a four letter grid containing T and K on the top row and two Os on the bottom row. No, it’s not TOOK like just about anyone would guess. It’s KOTO. What?
The Facebook sharing is pointless as well. Rather than posting about what level you just beat the only 
thing posted is a generic link to the Word Academy page on your wall. Boo.
Word Academy’s presentation is about what you’d expect for a puzzle game. The letter tiles are large and easy to read and the game is made up of solid colours and a very simple interface. A pen on paper sound effect for finding words and a few chimes for different events rounds out the aural package. Word Academy is all it needs to be.
Word Academy is a decent, if rather pedestrian word game. It doesn’t quite rise to the dizzying heights Words with Friends but is an enjoyable way to kill time.
Missing from this mini review, that Word Academy is an IAP game.