Players fight for dominance over island territories using eight-letter anagrams to build the highest scoring word possible. Quarrel! for Xbox LIVE Arcade for Xbox 360 includes the fun challenge of online multiplayer, supporting up to four players to prove who has the most lexical prowess. Players can also compete against nine unique AI in the classic Single Player mode, or take on the Challenge mode to take on extra mini-objectives within each battle...

Quarrel! is a rather fun and incredibly addictive word game for one player. Yes, sadly this is one of those family games where you can't actually play with other members of your family - not unless they all have their own Xbox and you play against them online or via a LAN party. However, you can put your heads together in your bid to beat the computer or online opponents.

The game play is simple. You start off with a set number of territories and the aim is to beat your opponents and take their territories. You all have a set number of men which are divided amongst your territories. When you attack an opponent's territory you can see how many men they have on the area you are attacking. The more men you have, the more chance you have of beating your opponent. However, in order to win the territory you have to engage in a bit of word play. Eight letters appear on the screen and you have to make the highest scoring word with one letter being assigned to one of your men (so if you have four men and your opponent has six men, the maximum word you can make will be four letters in length, whilst your opponent can make up to a six letter word). Your opponent does the same and the person who wins takes control of that territory (if they were attacking) or kills all their opponents men apart from one (if they are defending).

That's the basic idea but there are a few more bits and pieces that make this a game you'll want to come back to time and time again. It's fun, as a group, to try and get the eight letter anagram (and you can do this if two of your opponents are fighting each other).

Under the single player heading you have the option of playing a Quick Match (where the computer randomly chooses the number of competitors and what level they are. Don't worry you can skip to a different game before it starts if you don't like the set up); Tutorial (which hold your hand through the controls and general tactics); Domination (12 levels where you have to beat the other players. The levels increase in difficulty and you can only unlock the next level once you've completed the one before it. The biggest problem with this game is that you are always the last to take your turn); Showdown (which has nine levels of head-to-head games against a single competitor - again, each increasing in difficulty); Challenges (a range of various challenges, like capture a set amount of prisoners in a game or win a set amount of quarrels in a row); and Make a Match (where you can customise your own match).

Under the Multiplayer games you can either go online and play against real people, or set up your own online game to play against your Xbox Live friends.

There are some problems, like the time limit for your turns in the single player game is a little too short, especially when you are starting to get used to the controls. And the fact you always start last in the single player games is a pain - although this adds to your feeling of accomplishment when you finally win each level. And it's a shame that you can't play against three other friends in the same room as you on the same Xbox. In fact this loses a point for the inability to play against your family and friends without them logging into another Xbox account.

For the ridiculously low price though, this is a great little game.

8

Darren Rea