Individual Entry
Zam BeeZee
Free game alert: Zam BeeZee.
It's another one of the word+puzzle hybrid type of "casual" games, but it's free and a lot more varied and interesting than its less-than-free peers, like the boring BookWorm. Word games are not my strength -- not by far -- but if I can enjoy a game like this for ten minutes without a hint of frustration, then that tells me that the game designers did something right. Finding words in a sea of letters is dull. Finding words in a hexagonal beehive with letter and word multipliers and bombs and wild cards? Somehow, that works.
There is a "buy now" link on the welcome page, but it doesn't go anywhere. I don't know what the for-pay plans for this game are, but enjoy it while it's free.
February 28, 2005. Gaming.Comments (5)
I, too, share your frustrations with the dictionary. Aside form that, I am enjoying the game, even though I still prefer bookworm more. The biggest asset to ZBZ is the fact that I can play it offline on my laptop without paying popcap... though I will probably breakdown and buy bookworm sometime soon. Probably the next time I go on a road trip.
March 2, 2005 05:42 PM. Posted by: Jenn.The more I play it, the more bugs I notice -- so it might be that the freeness of it is a sort of beta test. I'm not sure.
As for Bookworm, do you know that there's a GBA version? I don't know how it compares to the regular old (Shockwave, I think) version, but... it *is* rare, so if you do see it then definitely pick it up. If for nothing than its rarity.
March 2, 2005 05:47 PM. Posted by: nowak.Wow. I think, once upon a time when I worked at EB, I saw it listed in the computer when I was looking for something else, but it never dawned on me that it was the same game. Now I'm going to have to look for it.
I've noticed a lot of bugs in ZBZ too. Specifically the frustrating ones where it'll crash or all the tiles will disappear right when I'm about to pass a level.
March 3, 2005 01:18 PM. Posted by: Jenn.Hey, wassup guys. I'm one of the partners at Blackburst Media, Inc. who worked on Zam BeeZee. Just to clarify, it is an open beta version of the game that we offer on our site. There are bugs that we are working on. There are bugs that we don't know about. Either way, we appreciate the fact that people out there are playing the game and finding bugs. Please check our site often for newer versions and we'd really, really, appreciate your reporting bugs to bugs@blackburstmedia.com.
Thanks again.
Mark Leibowitz
March 23, 2005 09:56 PM. Posted by: Mark.
Enjoyed it. Thanks for the link.
Main problem I found is that the dictionary is bullshit. Some obvious words aren't allowed. Other weird ones are. There's no up front way to know what is and isn't legitimate except for retaining the entire dictionary in working memory.
You could fix that by, for example, using playing cards, rather than letters, and Poker hands (Flushes, four of a kind) etc. instead of words. But then you lose the superficial joy of "I just made 'SUCK BALLS'!!"
March 2, 2005 01:15 PM. Posted by: Aubrey.