PixlBit

It is a total shame when not enough people are playing a game like Quarrel, a unique mashup of Scrabble and the strategy genre. I have some small hope that word of mouth and internet buzz will make more and more people shell out the five smackers to try it out, and I need your help.  If you just give the game a chance, you’ll find that it’s enjoyable from the outset and becomes addictive as you dig in for some intense wars with words.

The foundation of Quarrel is finding words in jumbled up sets of eight letters and scoring points per letter, similar to Scrabble. Words act as your weaponry in battles over segments of a divvied up map you are trying to wrest from opposing forces.  Parsing together words from an alphabet soup are key, but there is plenty of strategizing that can make even the slickest word wrangler beatable.

Each parcel of land you control on the map has soldiers stationed there, the number of which sets the maximum word length you can blast at opposing forces.  Every section of your territory gets one move on your turn, and you have to decide between attacking a neighbor or shifting troops around to balance forces. This becomes a tactical mind-bender as you attempt to anticipate your opponent’s plans and try to get things prepped for his turn while still making enough offensive maneuvers to gain some ground.  

Throw into the strategy mix the ability to take prisoners, earn more reinforcements, and turn the tide by calling in backup, and Quarrel can get pretty complex for something that looks so simple on the surface.  This is great for someone like me, who long ago tired of the drudgery of Scrabble and the like.  If the game mechanics sound a little baffling, it all gets pretty clear with one pass through the tutorial match – which is instructive without being a bore.     

Once you’ve gotten the gist of how to play, you can choose between single player rounds against A.I. opponents and multiplayer matches over Xbox Live.  There are enough different game modes, challenge levels, and match progressions in the single player to keep things entertaining.  The different A.I. opponents are varied enough – each with their own distinct avatar and “Word I.Q.” -- making each matchup distinct.  The computer opponents are the best you could hope for in a game like this.

Normally, though, I used the single player modes to pass the time between trips over to the multiplayer lobby.  As it stands right now, you will spend a lot of time in the lobby waiting for people to join you in a match.  It can take several minutes to get in a two-person game, quite a bit longer to get three people into a match, and I was never able to get a four person game to happen at all.  I’m going to keep trying, though, because playing against real-life opponents is pretty exhilarating.

Like a good chess match, the different players are trying to predict what others are planning, working to react effectively, and doing their best not to panic when the pressure is on.  Tensions can get high in these sessions too.  Even if you're at a big advantage in your number of troops (and therefore number of letters), anxiety can set in and your sure-fire win will turn into a huge game-losing flop.  The outcome of matches is hard to see coming – a single miscalculation or botched word battle can completely reverse the way things are headed.  I’ve had an opponent cornered and moments away from surrender only to fall flat on my face and lose the whole match.  I played other sessions where the lead swung back and forth for almost an hour, trying to determine a winner. This is how Quarrel really succeeds – with simple rules that challenge you to constantly learn new tactics (and vocabulary).       

Despite how fun it is, I did encounter some typical word-game frustration.  Some of the slang the game accepts is new to me (“bam”), while slang I threw out there was flatly rejected (“ganked”).  Part of this might be due to the British origins of the game, but the problem would probably crop up regardless of its production locale. Most of the time if a word got through that I thought was bunk, the scrolling definitions at the bottom of the screen convinced me that the game was probably right. 

My only real gripe with the game is a pretty important one.  When I was finally able to get three-person multiplayer matches going, most of them ended in an Xbox-paralyzing freeze.  No winner was determined, no points were dished out, and the time sunk into the harrowing word war was completely wasted.  This was a pretty consistent problem that needs to be patched.  I only experienced it in the three-player match-ups, but it could be an issue in other scenarios and I just didn’t get snagged any other time. 

The game looks and feels like a mobile game, with pretty simple character models acting as your soldiers and bold-colored simple shapes composing the territories.  The style works on the big-screen, even though it looks like it belongs on the iPhone where it was released months ago. The inclusion of avatars is sort of incongruous with the primary game graphics, but not too jarring.  The soundtrack is simple and festive and fits in perfectly with the overall look and feel of the game. 

Don’t let its simple graphics and dull-sounding “word combat” descriptions keep you away from Quarrel.  For just five dollars, this is an XBLA title that will provide plenty of return on investment.  The clever combination of find-a-word and turn-based strategy make every match in Quarrel a unique and challenging experience.  So, go!  Buy Quarrel and drag your friends with you!  We’ve got to get everyone tapped into this great word game that is only going to thrive with the infusion of players that it deserves.