Word Searcher 4 Review - Screenshot 1 of 2

You know the old adage “less is more?” Well, it’s pretty obvious that Digital Leisure takes this saying to heart with its Word Searcher series. Word Searcher 4 marks the fourth game in the series of word search puzzle games, and it’s not much of an advancement from the last one, or the one before that, or even the one before that. If you’ve played any of the previous Word Searcher games, or if you’ve ever done a word search puzzle using a pen and paper, or if you’ve ever even looked at a grid of random letters, then you’re definitely not going to see anything new here.

Word Searcher 4 is played by holding your DSi on its side like a book. Whether you choose to have your DSi oriented for left or right handed gameplay, the grid of letters will always appear on the side with the DSi’s touch screen. Once you’ve found a word that you’re looking for in the grid, you then drag your stylus over it to highlight the full word. Each word you find is automatically crossed off on the other screen, and once you’ve found all of them then the puzzle is done. This game features 100 different categories of words to choose from, each with 14 different words hidden in the puzzle, just like the previous games.

Once again, the audio and visual has remained virtually unchanged. The one song in the game is the same one that has carried over from the previous titles, and the visual presentation is the same as well. The only element that has changed visually is that the menus are now skinned in a sort of salmon color rather than blue or green. But that’s it. That’s the only difference.

Word Searcher 4 Review - Screenshot 2 of 2

While this game may almost literally be the same exact thing as the previous series contributions before it, that doesn’t mean it’s not a good way to waste some time. If word search puzzles are what you’re after, then you could definitely do worse that Word Searcher 4. Sure, there may not be any additional content beyond the word searches themselves, and the 500 Point asking price is a little steep for this type of game, but that doesn’t mean it can’t still be enjoyed. If you liked the previous Word Searcher games then the consistency in this one may come as a welcomed surprise.

Conclusion

There’s no point in making it sound like something it’s not, so here it goes: Word Searcher 4 is basically the same game as its predecessors. There are different categories of words to search for and a different colour on the menu screens, but that’s all that’s been changed. If you really love word search puzzles and you haven’t played the previous games in this series, then you might want to give this one a shot.