Games involving words such as word jumble or crossword puzzles are fun and potentially help improved player's abilities to recall upon their vocabulary. KrissX, pronounced "criss-cross", by developer Regolith Games Ltd. has just been released earlier this week for the Xbox Live Arcade. It's a word game that combines both letter jumble and crossword puzzles into a new and unique package.
In KrissX, words are already set up in random crossword puzzle formation with all the letters jumbled up except for a few that are set in their proper places. During the first few words of a game, there is a glowing cloud that points to a particular word and gives players a hint to what the word may be. Players then swap out the letters in the word until the correct word is created. The crossword line is then locked into place and will net you points. Also when this happens, color coded "tokens" pop out with buttons linked to them. Players can then hit the corresponding button on their controller to collect the "tokens" which yield bonus points, automatic letter swaps, or extra tips and hints for other words.
The objective is to finish the KrissX puzzle as fast as possible with as few swap errors as possible to combo up as many points as possible. In between finishing a word and moving onto a new word, the "token" collecting adds as filler as with incentive to help you. The game becomes challenging in the later stages when there are blocks of jumbled words placed adjacent to each other in to grids and the mixing of one word begins affecting two other words. There are points when the player no longer gets hints for certain words and requires player to plan out their layouts. It'll eventually require players to put on their thinking caps.
KrissX's mascot comes in the form of a wise and helpful owl who belts out tidbits of information, chuckles and frowns when you make errors, and cheers when you complete words. He'll also snore and get bored when you take to long to make a word. The owl's voice sounds a tad muffled and his tone seems condescending when he does speak to you. The voice acting for him could have been better.
There is just a simple 2D backdrop of either a forested area or a snow covered plain behind the main focus point of the crosswords. The words and puzzle set ups are straight forward and change in themes alongside the backdrops. The words burst into a bright flash of stars when players finish words and explode into a supernova when the entire puzzle is complete. The game is broken up into stages and reward players with badges after each stage, such as finishing without swap errors or within a certain time frame.
There is a varied soundtrack to the music in KrissX. The majority of tracks are peaceful and lull in the background while players pick their brains completing words without much distraction. There are sounds of crickets and birds chirping every so often to break the uniformity. There is also a track during the pause and main menus which sound like a low-quality awkward mix between Arabian music and Asian string instruments. It made the menu experience seem cheesy.
This game is not action oriented at all. It is geared to those who enjoy word jumbles and crossword puzzles. If you hated one or the other, then I wouldn't recommend this either, but if you wanted a new type of game that combines these two ideas, KrissX should have a spot in your Xbox's library of games. If you don't like word games or a slower pace, I'd recommend skipping this title.
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