As far as word games go on the Xbox 360 they are a bit few and far between, but we are starting to see more thanks to the indie games section on Xbox Live. So we decided to throw down some time with Puzzlez own word title Puzzle? The game features three word games and also a tic-tac-toe mode for just a general chill out, something that we’d only recommend playing in multiplayer (which is available)

So how does it all pan out? Well, the presentation is very basic to say the least. A black background and a smattering of stars really as far as this game gets when it comes to aesthetically trying to please the player. This is always a difficult area, your outputting games on a HD console with an audience that expects presentation to be clean cut and nice to look at and unfortunately Puzzle? has disregarded what is a simple thing to achieve. Even at 80 Microsoft points the visual style shouldn’t be overlooked.

As for the games, things perk up a little more with three word puzzles that sustain your attention. The anagram puzzle mode is probably the best of the three, with other puzzles including having to make as many words out of a jumble of letters and another game mode where you have to use a set letter every time when creating a word. Puzzle? boasts, a dictionary word list of over 430,000 words and looking through the solutions available after playing a round, you would think most of the words you initially saw didn’t even exist! Though upon checking, the words do exist for some bizarre reason. Ironically though when playing we noticed it didn’t recognise the word ‘Buck’ despite it being a commonality of the English language.

Where Puzzlez has succeeded is in the choice of music. Kevin McLeod at incomputech.com has been the holy grail of royalty free music for years and the choices made by the developer have been very wise as so many games choose music that irritates, Puzzle? has music that is audible and acceptable.

Overall the game has some interesting word games that have a little charm about them to hold your attention during a sitting, however the presentation and basic difficulty settings (decreases the time you have each level) means the game is very one dimensional and a bit of a sight for sore eyes on your TV. At 80 Microsoft points there are better games out there, however if your looking for some word conundrums then at least give this game a look before deciding upon purchase.