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LEX Review: Simple, entertaining word game

LEX is a new word game that stands out with its unique design and simple premise.

You may think, “oh no, not another word game, haven’t we run out of words yet?” But not only does that show a fundamental misunderstanding of how words and their games work, LEX is actually in the top of its class and really does deserve your attention.

The game starts off with nine letter tiles across the middle of the screen. Each of them have a score attached and your job is to try and make a word from the available letters. This formula should be instantly familiar to those who play Scrabble. The difference is, you don’t get all the time in the world to pick out a word. As time passes each letter starts to fill up and once it’s full the game is over. Each letter fills up at a different rate though, with vowels the quickest, while awkward letters like K and Q lag behind. As you make more matches the speed also increases and it becomes trickier. If you’re a Scrabble master then you’ll probably fare better than our measly top score of 429!

The background never fails to look amazing

The background never fails to look amazing

A simple beauty

With several successive matches the multiplier ranks up. Making longer words will ensure you reach higher levels quicker. You may also notice that as you build a word in LEX the background begins to show the letters radiating out from the center in a kaleidoscopic manner, allowing the game to grow from simple wordplay to fully rounded app.

As time passes the letters fill up

As time passes the letters fill up

LEX recommends that you should wear headphones while playing and doing so really does add to the experience. Each tile tap is accompanied by a gentle chime – as game-over approaches the beat really ramps up. This may have added to our panicked state, though we weren’t much better without headphones on.

Running out of time

One complaint we have about LEX is that the letters do fill up quickly meaning you don’t have much thinking time. Tapping on a wrong letter can also prove fatal as you have to reach up and tap the bubble to remove it. It’s often quicker to submit it and let the letters rejoin the others before starting again.

The app asks for a review in a unique way

The app asks for a review in a unique way

As it stands LEX is an enjoyable little game but one that could do with a few added extras and tweaks to make it perfect. We hope updates will build on this already solid base in the future.

Price: $0.99/£0.69
Size: 37.7 MB
Version: 1.0
Platform: iOS Universal
Developer: Simple Machine, LLC

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