Mac Games – reviews and game downloads

Brain fitness is a popular term used today in referencing techniques needed to improve one’s mental capacity and function. Jig Words is a Mac game that can help with stimulating the brain to adapt to quick changes. It will keep your brain on its’ toes by random letters appearing on the screen for you to figure out as many words, three letters and more, as quickly as possible.

There are two game modes in Jig Words. To play the Jig Words mode you click on letter tiles to find all possible combinations of words. By completing each word, you get pieces of the jigsaw puzzle to reveal the picture on the screen. You can even upload your own photos to be incorporated into the games. How fun is that? Also there is a bonus round to enhance and give you more incentive to continue your play. The Word Duel play has free words, tiles with points, and freezing blocker piece meters.

If the Jig Words mode is not enough of a challenge for you who are competitive by nature, go into the Letter Racing mode. With an active internet connection you compete with 3 other opponents online. This will raise your game to a whole new level.

Jig Words is fun and often times a challenging workout for your brain even when you are not competing with others. I don’t think it will increase your vocabulary because you really need to know the words in order to complete the puzzle, but it does make you use your brain in a fast and orderly manner. Your critical thinking skills will be tested to the fullest. Good luck!

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Back to the basics is the name of the game in Mac word game Super Text Twist. You can play timed or untimed, find the longest word possible, and you can link to online word definitions.

The screen is similar to Text Twist 2, but with the blank spaces for words are along the left side instead of at the top of the screen. There are balls of random letters where when you click on a letter, it will go to the large boxes immediately above the balls. You make 3 to 6 or 7 letter words to fill the squares along the left. If you make the longest word in the level, you qualify for the next level, but will not take you to the next round unless you end the play or complete all the words available. If you play the timed mode, and I suggest you do, then after your 2 minutes, 30 seconds are up, your game is over. If you made enough words, you can go on to the next level. If you get stuck, click on the twist button to jumble the letters around. This may jolt your brain a little to form more words. Also a helpful button is the last word button to use when you want to add a S to make it plural and a longer word.

Super Text Twist is a good, solid word play, and the new word offers will help your brain fitness and possibly learn new definitions. Although this game does not recognize all words found in other games, it has many words to use. This game went back to the basics and eliminated the other games that Text Twist 2 offered. So if you like variety, choose TT 2 and if you like just to play the twist game, go for Super Text Twist. Your brain will thank you for it.

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Have you ever wished you could be in the National Spelling Bee in Washington DC?  Well, now you can (kinda) with Spell-Jam! This game, sponsored by Meriam Websters, is the non-genius’ way to rise to spelling glory, all from the comfort of your home computer.

There are three modes in Spell-Jam: Gameshow, Tournament and Practice. The gameshow is like “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” for spelling. You can choose from three difficulties (advanced is very difficult) and work your way up the money list. Tournament is a chance to take place in an actual spelling bee, where you can compete against multiple competitors, including other people. Practice is self-explanatory; you practice spelling.

The gameplay is basically the same in every mode. The Gameshow mode allows you some more options, like pass, vowels, first and last letters, etc. These help you to get past hard words or words you have never heard before. But, you have a set amount of these, so use them with caution. All the modes have the same four options under the keyboard: Repeat Word, Sentence, Definition, and Origin. These are the basic aids that are available at all spelling bees.

This game was kind of fun, if you enjoy spelling. I enjoyed it for a while, but as I continued playing, I came to realize how bad I was at spelling. Other than that, the only problem I had was during the Tournament mode, I was not able to go back and change typing errors that I made, making it incredibly frustrating and tedious (maybe that is what a spelling bee is supposed to be like). I also got a little fed up with my animated character who repeated the same three phrases (like “Fo Sho” and “Cool”) after answering every question. Also, when you click on the aids, the character is prompted to ask the question before the help pops up. This becomes very monotonous and bored me to no end. All in all, this game was fairly ok and I would give it two and a half out of five stars.

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