When Quarrel hit on iOS last year it was a mega hit. The simple design worked well with touchscreens allowing for players to play it in quick bursts or to binge for hours. However, the complaint developer Denki heard from many was “Where is the multiplayer?” In this Xbox Live Arcade re-release of the title, they have answered.
For those that didn’t pick up the well-regarded game on iOS last year, Quarrel is an easy one to understand: Risk, meet Scrabble. Now, I must admit that is almost exactly how the game is pitched, and when I was told that I said “Okay, sure.” Then I played it, and I thought “Ohhhh, yea. Totally.”
Eight letters at a time (with each new battle, or quarrel, we get eight new letters) we battle up to three opponents on a small map that is sectioned off like a single continent in Risk (think Risk Factions). Each section can have up to eight troops, each one representing a letter we can use in our battling word. Example: with three troops, a three letter word is our max. So if we plan on attacking or defending with fewer troops, we better make sure our brain is functioning so we can maximize our score.
Attacking works in the same way as Risk; to advance we must defeat the enemy, but are required leave a troop behind to hold the spot that we’ve won. Creating anagrams with all eight letters and collecting treasure from our victories allows for extra reinforcements. If we feel we need one of these reinforcements when leading into a battle, we tap “X” on our gamepad and a troop drops in to give us that extra letter availability.
If we are playing a match with more than two people, the others will inevitably face off. When that happens we will have a chance to earn more points towards reinforcements by getting the same letter board as the two battling and creating a word. We have to be quick though, as time will quickly expire on this opportunity.
Besides basic matches against the AI, several challenge modes allow us to keep our minds spinning as well. Coming back against an AI opponent from one square to owning them all, to taking a certain number of prisoners (prisoners are taken by winning a battle against an opponent with more troops on a space) are just some of the challenge games held within Quarrel. The “Showdown” mode is a boss rush against the nine opponent AIs going from least to most difficult. Rounding them out is the “Domination” mode, in which we seek to conquer every one of the 12 maps in Quarrel.
I didn’t clock much time in with Quarrel on iOS, but I did prefer the controls on that platform. Cycling through letters with the analog stick is not as easy as using a touchscreen, but it isn’t a problem in the big picture. The added multiplayer and Challenge mode more than make up for any control shortcomings.
Puzzle and board games are some of my favorite genres, and Quarrel really scratches that itch for me. Other than not trusting any other user online (anyone could use an anagram site to cheat), I find it to be an enjoyable and immensely satisfying game. While there is no local multiplayer, my brother and I had an excellent time sitting down and trying to pull the longest word as quick as possible. I recommend Quarrel to anyone looking for a new twist on a word game.
[divider]
This review is based on a review code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher, UTV Ignition. Quarrel is available for 400 MSP on the Xbox Live Marketplace
2 Comments