[b]icewords[/b] is a hex-based word game featuring animals that aren't cats. excellent start, but unfortunately it's [b]endless score attack[/b], no campaign, hand-made levels or anything, so it wasn't going to keep me entertained for too long.
you play as a penguin waddling around on an iceberg made up of hexagons. move by [b]spelling words at least 2 letters long[/b] and try to knock off your adversaries to survive as long as possible. tiles you land on at the end of a word get their letters removed, same for ones where enemies stood before their move. can't do anything with empty tiles, but extra letters are awarded for words of at least 3 letters. you can have up to 2 (the rest goes on the board if there's room), use them to change the layout a bit to your advantage. there's also a powerful blizzard power-up that quickly creates some breathing room once it's charged and used.
there are [b]5 enemies[/b], tiles blinking black indicate imminent appearances, so they can be blocked. based on movement you can push, slam or throw them, ideally far enough so they land in the water or bump into each other, which also gets rid of them. enemies also move around on their own (without the need to create words), but it's all [b]turn-based[/b], so they do it one after the other, [b]no timer or timing involved[/b].
snowmen are easy and don't push back, hitting them twice melts them, but everybody else can push you. walruses can be pissed off, then they'll charge at you, yetis are tough too. landing between enemies can be beneficial if they push you over the other guy, which in turn will disappear. santa also enters the picture soon enough, his sleigh destroys a tile while landing, his presents turn tiles inaccessible and can turn into enemies, and he's pushy too. and finally, reindeer have fancy lasers, so they can push you from afar.
[b]controls are mouse-only and work as they should.[/b] click letters or drag the line to make words, right click cancels the current selection, left click on any letter cuts the line off at that point, and you can go back while holding the left button as well. once a valid word is made, the line turns green, clicking the play button confirms movement.
there's a tutorial teaching how to pull of different moves, [b]going back to the menu saves the current game[/b], so you can continue later, and you're notified if there are no more moves left. it might be possible to salvage the situation with a blizzard or by dropping letters around.
[b]graphics are good enough, audio is mostly annoying as hell[/b], including clicking buttons in the menu and jumping. there are separate volume settings, full screen toggle with a resizable window, a few languages and toggles for showing rank (not sure what that does) and turn order (handy). [b]word definitions got patched in[/b], it's another toggle and shows what the last created word means most of the time.
[b]it's really fun for a while and not too expensive, but would really benefit from multiplayer (which is being worked on) or other forms of longevity[/b], even if I wouldn't have anybody to play with. as a matter of fact, the original version is called [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2081977258]spelling brawl[/url], available as a workshop item for [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/286160/]tabletop simulator[/url] because the developer couldn't find a publisher. it has multiplayer for 2-4 people and while I have no means of trying it, it should be the same thing, except with wrestling instead of an arctic theme, which was apparently chosen to appeal to the mobile market, but I found no trace of a mobile version. maybe it'll come later, I'm just glad the pc version doesn't play like a lazy mobile port.
