iPad Review: W.E.L.D.E.R.

It’s time to put on your thinking cap and weld out some words for a challenging game, W.E.L.D.E.R.! After all, you’ll need to know quite a few words and be good at puzzles to solve this game.

W.E.L.D.E.R. calls upon your vocabulary bank and makes you think of at least four-letter words that will help you progress to the next level. It somewhat takes the basis of Bejeweled and Scrabble and mashes the two together to become what we know as W.E.L.D.E.R. Gameplay isn’t particularly too hard to understand - all you have to do is touch a tile to swap with another one, just like Bejeweled, except this time, you’re creating words.

The first level is quite simple: all you need to do is not run out of moves. Every 250 points or so, you’ll gain five more moves. The game then becomes progressively harder: the further you progress, the more options you have of creating words, such as reversing the order of the letters or jump swapping. You’ll also see that some tiles will help you, such as the gold tile, which will give you bonus points, but you’ll also discover that other tiles only retard your progress. For example, the “hot” and bolted tiles can’t be moved at all, while “broken” tiles leave gaps in your work and reduce the number of tiles you have. Urgh, annoying!

You’ll want to try and create as many long words as possible. You’ll also want to make as many combos as you can, so try grouping the letters in such a way that you can get more points for having combos. After all, more combos never hurt anyone. And besides, it means more multipliers, which lead to more moves, swaps, and reverses.

I was quite enraptured with this game. I would try to make as many long words as possible to get more points to get more moves. But I quickly realized that I would be searching for words for a while. It is a little difficult to spot words or letters that will complete words and you have to ensure that the tile that you’re using will get you more letters after the word has been completed and disappears. I’m not sure about you but I did have trouble spotting those letters. Then I’d find myself into a pickle and start “cursing” at my screen because I chose the wrong tile a few moves before. But I would definitely recommend this game because it challenges your brain and teaches your mind to try and anticipate where you should create words and which tiles to select that maximize your points potential.

Interested in the game or want to buy it? Head here.