Developer: Denki
Publisher: UTV Ignition Games
Genre: Puzzle
Platforms: Xbox Live Arcade
Online: Multiplayer
Price: 400 MS Points
If you are a Scrabble fan or tune into TV’s Countdown on a regular basis then Quarrel may be right up your street. It’s a word game with a twist as you take on between one and three opponents in a word battle to control territories on each map. There are a number of different game modes but essentially once a player annexes every territory they win the game.
There are 12 different maps to choose from but in reality these are only backgrounds as once a match starts, the map is divided up into equal territories. Each player takes turns either attacking an opponents territory or by reinforcing their own territory with back up forces. When you attack an opponents territory both players are required to come up with the best word possible from the letters available. The length of word depends on how many troops each player has in their territory. If both players pick words with the same score it comes down to who was fastest. The victor then claims their opponents territory and then can move on to challenge again or reinforce. Once a player reinforces a territory their turn is over and the next player is up.
There are a number of different game modes to choose from and while the core gameplay is the same in each, they do all differ slightly. Quick Match is exactly as it sounds and can throw up any type of game against any opponent. Domination see you take on three other players and you must defeat all of them to win. Showdown will pit you against different AI opponents starting at the lowest rating of 1 and making your way up to level 10. Challenges is where you are set a certain task to achieve in each game and rewarded with stars. Finally, the online multiplayer mode sees four players take each other on over Xbox Live. If there aren’t four players available, or if someone leaves the game, an AI is automatically assigned to the game. Unfortunately, there is no local multiplayer mode.
The only thing that bugged me about the game is that it can be quite drawn out and there’s a lot of time wasted waiting while AI players are playing. An option to speed this up until you are involved again would have been nice. Even though the game is quite simple and basic it is definitely one that will appeal to word game fans and could have been good fun as a family game had there been local multiplayer included. For the price it is well worth it even if you only learn a new word or two.
Overall: 7/10
