Kindle App Review – Kindle App Reviews, Kindle Games

This is a review of Every Word: Crossings – a word game produced by Amazon Digital Services. 

Every Word: Crossings Review – Review Introduction

Every Word: Crossings was released in July, 2011 with version 1.1 released on September 16, 2011 (the new release allows you to spell words with the 5-way controller).  It is currently rated 4.5 stars based upon 31 customer reviews. It is available for free in the Amazon store and is worth every penny you pay for it.  Actually – I would be happy to pay for this game, so that makes it even more of a bargain. If you liked Every Word (the predecessor game) you will enjoy the new challenges provided by Every Word: Crossings.

Available on the following Kindle versions as of 10/4/2011: Kindle 4, Kindle Keyboard (formerly Kindle 3), Kindle DX, Kindle 2^nd Generation.

Every Word: Crossings Review – Main Takeaways

Every Word: Crossings provides you with up to 10 levels per game with an option of a Timed Game (usually about 4 minutes or so per level) or a Relaxed Game (play at your own speed).  I prefer the Relaxed Game mode because I often will just play the game when I have a few free minutes.  The first levels start you out with 5 letters in the display and require you to fill in a crossword type grid with words based upon those 5 letters (3-5 letters in a word). As you advance in levels, the display grid advances from up until the hardest levels have 7 letters available and the minimum letter requirement per word increases.

Every Word: Crossings Kindle Active Content

One useful tip that I find saves me a lot of typing – the space bar (also Prev Page button) will generate the previous word that you entered.  So – if you know that a word is going to have variations with an ‘S’ on the end, you enter the smaller word first, then hit the space bar followed by ‘s’ to enter the next word. 

A second tip is to remember to use Next Page often to shuffle the letters in the word.  If you cannot find a word – rearranging the letters will sometimes make them pop in the display.

The only requirement to move up to the next level is to find the longest word.  If all else fails, find the longest word (if there are several, only one is required) and move on.  Sometimes the puzzles just don’t mentally kick in for the user.

Comparing Every Word: Crossings to Every Word

In Every Word, your submitted words are displayed in a nice grid starting with the smallest words up to the largest word.  The words are also displayed alphabetically within each section – which makes it easier to guess at the words you might have missed.

In Every Word: Crossings, your submitted words are displayed in a crossword type grid and the crossing of the words helps pinpoint words you are missing (sometimes).

Which version is better depends more on what type of thinker you are.  I find that I prefer Every Word: Crossings to Every Word just because I like the crossword display – but admit that I sometimes find it very frustrating because I have to search through the display to see if I already entered a word and (particularly with smaller words) the crossword grid does not let you easily see what the initial letters you might be missing are.

Clue Mode

Clue Mode allows you to type a period “.” and get clues to words you are missing.  I will admit that the first several games I played – I thought this was the most useless feature I had ever seen in a game.  However, that turned out to be because of the particular game I was in and the clues were not particularly useful.  As I played more, I found that there are many times when using clue mode and then entering ‘guess’ letters and shuffling the remaining letters did allow me to find more words.  So  – if it doesn’t work well for you in one game – try it out in another and see if it is beneficial.

Every Word: Crossings Review – Conclusion and Overall Rating

I would provide an Every Word: Crossings review rating of 4 stars.  The one item that prevents me from giving it 5 stars is the word lists.  There is no rhyme or reason sometimes as to why they do not have certain words allowed (or used) in a particular game and the user just has to try different words to see if they fit.

Filed under: Free Kindle Games, Kindle Game Review