QatQi Review

There seems to be quite a golden age of word games for iOS at the moment, with the likes of LetterPress paving the way to such good intentions. This continues with the release of QatQi, part word game, part puzzler.

Kind of like Scrabble, players create words from a series of tiles, each offering a different numerical value. Vowels might only be worth 1 but more challenging letters such as Q and J garner hefty points. On the board, a series of tiles offering extra points and bonuses exist to boost the tally. So far, so predictable. QatQi offers a noticeable difference to other games though, namely, the game board involved. Each level offers a different structure to negotiate and fit words around.

This sounds simple enough to do but later levels prove immensely challenging. Working on a daily basis, QatQi offers an easy start on a Monday, gradually progressing to a very tough stage on Sunday. And when I say tough, I mean exceptionally tough at times. It juxtaposes with the otherwise relaxing feel of the game, but it does keep the gray matter ticking nicely. The daily variety keeps things feeling fresh, also, and it's always possible to access past stages at a later date.

QatQi supplements such gameplay with a wide selection of statistics, tracking how the player is performing in terms of individual word scores as well as against other players. This can be done geographically for further interest.

It's a very simple idea, but a good one. QatQi offers a different type of word game challenge, and flourishes for it. All the better for being free to download, and exceptionally easy to dive into for short or long sessions.