Just a Phrase by POWGI Review

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board game, Brain Training, casual, Education, Just a Phrase by POWGI, Just a Phrase by POWGI Review, Lightwood Games, Logic, PS4, PS4 Review, Puzzle, Rating 5/10, strategyAnother month goes by and another “by POWGI” title is released, this time it’s Just a Phrase by POWGI. Previous “by POWGI” titles include Word Search, Word Sudoku, One Word, Mixups, Crossovers, Word Wheel, Wordsweeper, Fifty Words, Tic-Tac-Letters and Word Maze. If you’ve played one, then you’ll have a pretty good idea what’s required and whether you’ll enjoy it.

If you’ve never played a “by POWGI” game before then here’s what to expect; generally they are word based games where letters are missing. You will then need to fill in the gaps to complete the level. Often the words are relevant to a specific header, so something like Musical Instruments will have words that will likely include Trumpet, Drum, Banjo etc. In the case of Just a Phrase by POWGI, this time it’s to do with homophones and phrases. Playing somewhat like hangman but without the chance of losing. Just a Phrase by POWGI asks you to complete a blank phrase, however one word within each phrase has been replaced by a homophone. What’s a homophone? Well homophones are words having the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling. For instance, the well known phrase Key Lime Pie has the word Key in this example replaced by the similarly pronounced but spelt differently word Quay. Four letters appear on the right hand side, using the the designated buttons you choose what letters you think are present in the phrase. There are no punishments in choosing a letter that isn’t part of the phrase, so the element of risk is not there. Letters when chosen do not appear again making it easier to complete phrases. It’s entirely possible to just be left with the letters required for the phrase if your initial choices were incorrect.

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When you complete a level, you move onto the next one and there are 120 in total. There is no difficulty curve to mention, you are just completing 120 different phrases in Just a Phrase by POWGI. I’ve mentioned before that it is difficult to review a game like Just a Phrase by POWGI, it’s basically a word game like the rest of the “by Powgi” releases. If you found enjoyment in those then you will find the same experience in Just a Phrase by POWGI. The words replaced in the phrases are meant to be humorous and surreal, you rarely ever experience those emotions in Just a Phrase by POWGI, in the same way you generally wouldn’t experience much emotion in a word game besides maybe frustration.

The biggest issue with Just a Phrase by POWGI is that you can just button smash your way to the answer. It’s entirely possible just to keep pressing one button, whether that is the cross or the traingle, over and over again to complete your phrase. There is no limit to how many times you can choose an incorrect letter, eventually you run out of incorrect letters. If you play Just a Phrase by POWGI like it should be played, then you’ll get a couple of hours out of it, if you choose to just button smash your way through it then you may even complete Just a Phrase by POWGI faster.

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Graphically Just a Phrase by POWGI is just like the rest of the POWGI group. There is a very limited set of colours on offer, it’s mostly a grey scale colour scheme. The POWGI dog pops up as per usual offering advice and other ramblings. Something I always bring up with these games is a lack of a leaderboard or two player, implementing either of these would double how much fun and replayability of a game like Just a Phrase by POWGI. Musically it’s more of the same from Just a Phrase by POWGI, some nice, soft on the ears repetitive background music, almost like what you would hear whilst you wait on the phone in a queue.

Just a Phrase by POWGI. just like its predecessors, keeps things simple once more. If you have loved the other “by POWGI” games then Just a Phrase by POWGI will surely be another added to the collection. However, Just a Phrase by POWGI isn’t the best of the bunch though, there is a massive lack of a challenge because you can just guess your way by random button smashing letters to complete a phrase. This removes the majority of the difficulty you will experience with Just a Phrase by POWGI which is a shame. It’s a reasonably clever take on phrasing but the implementation in Just a Phrase by POWGI just has it come up short.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Playstation 4 code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.

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Just a Phrase by POWGI Review
  • Gameplay - 5/10
    5/10
  • Graphics - 5/10
    5/10
  • Sound - 5/10
    5/10
  • Replay Value - 5/10
    5/10
Overall
5/10

Summary

It’s a reasonably clever take on phrasing but the implementation in Just a Phrase by POWGI just has it come up short.


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