If you ever see a list of the best word games on the App Store that doesn’t include Zach Gage’s SpellTower ($2.99), there’s something wrong. It’s a simple word search game, like most of Gage’s stuff, that is just executed to a point of absolute perfection. Additionally, SpellTower seems to have an oddly diverse fanbase, which has always been a pretty cool thing in my eyes. I suppose it makes sense, as you’d be hard pressed to find something more universally appealing than a really good word game, eh? Anyway, SpellTower is the latest game by Zach Gage to get a big ol’ update.
So, in the previous update, SpellTower got Zen Mode, which is basically the core game but with anything that’d stress you out removed. This update goes in the complete opposite direction with additions to the Tower game mode (which I always saw as the “core" mode of SpellTower). According to Zach, people were always asking him what a “good" score was in Tower mode, which was always sort of difficult to say because it’s a totally random game mode. Today’s update introduces a daily Tower, where each player plays with the exact same set of letters, allowing folks to directly face off for the highest score with a specific set of blocks on a specific day.
To encourage competition, there’s a bunch of different awards you can earn depending on where you stack up against the rest of the players in that game as well as a few other statistics like your lifetime average score and other interesting tidbits for long-time players of the game. Additionally, the menu system has been tweaked a bit which comes with the added benefit of greatly reducing (if not eliminating) lag between switching in between the menu and the game. (Note: This new menu is not shown in this very old trailer below.)
On the accessibility front, apparently Zach Gage got some email from folks with Parkinson’s who requested the ability to disable the default double-tap to submit behavior, which is now a thing that exists. (See what I mean from earlier when I mentioned how diverse the playerbase is?) SpellTower is one of my favorite word games, and with this new version 5.0, it’s incrementally better! Also, the daily Tower mode will show me just how bad I am at it, so, there’s that. Definitely give this game a look if you don’t already have it. If you need some additional prodding, check out our ancient review from when it was an iPad game.
